Continuum damage dynamics of a large-scale flexible multibody system comprised of composite beams

Herein, a continuum damage dynamic model of a large-scale flexible multibody system comprising composite beams is proposed based on the framework of the absolute nodal coordinate formulation. To accurately model the continuum damage dynamics of a multibody system, the Hashin criterion is adopted to describe damage initiation during dynamics. A type of nonlinear evolution law is used to characterize the value of material damage. Furthermore, a material stiffness degradation rule is introduced to describe the process of structural damage. A formulation for the damage element elastic force and its Jacobian are derived based on the second Piola–Kirchhoff stress tensor. Two dynamic numerical examples, including a deployment dynamic analysis of the spatial beam structural unit, are conducted to verify the availability and applicability of the proposed model.