Summary

Helius PFA was used to predict progressive failure caused by a displacement controlled load for a composite plate with a hole.

Three different procedures specific to Helius PFA were used:

1. Composite Material Manager was used to characterize the material using experimental lamina properties (Characterize a User Material with Composite Material Manager).
2. The Helius PFA plug-in was used to define the material in ANSYS (Create a User Material with the Helius PFA Plug-in).
3. Solution controls were defined (Specify Solution Controls).
4. State variable (SVAR) output to the results file (.rst) was requested (Define Solution Output to the Results File).

After the solution was completed, ANSYS was used to plot fiber and matrix failure in individual plies and to view the progression of failure within ply 2. A load-displacement plot was also generated.