Internal instability as a possible failure mechanism for layered composites.

This paper revisits a three-dimensional analytical approach to study internal instability in layered composites, when the behaviour of each component of the material is described by the three-dimensional equations of solid mechanics. It shows the development of a unified computational procedure for numerical realization of the three-dimensional analytical method as applied to various constitutive equations of the layers and fibres, and different loading schemes (uniaxial or biaxial loading). The paper also contains many examples of calculation of critical controlled parameters for particular composites as well as analysis of different buckling modes. The results of this method can be used as a benchmark for simplified models. This article is part of the themed issue 'Multiscale modelling of the structural integrity of composite materials'.