Damage constitutive model and numerical simulation of in-plane tear failure for architectural fabric membranes

Tearing failure is the key factor affecting the safety of tension fabric structures, but there is a lack of material damage models and numerical methods needed to simulate tearing failure. This paper investigates the macroscopic damage model of architectural fabrics and the numerical simulation method for its tearing failure. Firstly, based on the incremental stress update scheme, theoretical descriptions of the material model considering the nonlinear elastic damage behavior are presented. Then, the influence of stiffness softening laws and the mesh schemes are investigated, and the advantages of easy implantation and good precision of the proposed model are validated by comparison with the cohesive element model embedded in ABAQUS. Compared with the experiment results and theoretical model, the predicted results are in good agreement for various crack length cases, and the nonlinear variation mechanism of tearing residual strength is revealed. Also, the effect of the tensile strength and fracture energy are discussed, and it is found that the crack tip blunting effect causes the linear elastic fracture mechanics not applicable.