The 14th user material constant is used to define the response of the composite after a fiber failure when energy-based degradation is used. Specifically, this value represents the total energy dissipated by the composite before and after a fiber failure.
If you request Energy-Based Degradation, this value represents the total energy of the composite before and after a fiber failure event. After a fiber failure event occurs, ,
, and
are degraded linearly according to Appendix A.5 for post-fiber failure. As the composite strain increases beyond that at initial fiber failure, the composite properties are reduced according to the input fiber degradation energy, the composite strain at failure, the composite stress at failure, and the element volume. For more information on the fiber degradation energy, refer to the Theory Manual.