ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the kinematic of shells, which is the most common configuration of composite materials in practice. Then, it goes on to describe in detail how to build a finite element simulation of laminated composite shells using Abaqus. Next, it introduces 2D and 3D failure criteria for this type of structures. And finally, it explains how to introduce thermal loads by using predefined fields in Abaqus. Failure criteria introduced in this chapter are used in Chapter 12 to illustrate the development of user material subroutines in Abaqus.
