A projected finite element update method for inverse identification of material constitutive parameters in transversely isotropic laminates

In this paper, a novel application of Finite Element Update Method (FEUM) is proposed for the inverse identification of material constitutive parameters in transversely isotropic laminates. Two-dimensional Digital Image Correlation (2D–DIC) is used for full-field measurements which is required for the identification process. Instead of measuring the in-plane displacements, which is a well-known application of 2D–DIC, we seek to measure the pseudo-displacements resulting from out-of-plane (towards camera) deflection of plate under a point load. These pseudo-displacements are basically the perspective projection of the three dimensional displacement fields on the image-plane of the image acquisition system. The cost function in this method is defined in terms of these projections instead of the true displacements – and hence the name Projected Finite Element Update Method (PFEUM). In this article, identification of in-plane elastic moduli of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) plate has been performed using plate bending experiments which show pre-dominantly out-of-plane deflection with little contribution from the in-plane displacements. Identification results are validated by direct experimental measurements of the unknown elastic constants as well as theoretical estimates based on volume ratio of constituents. The results show good conformance between estimated and target values for at least three material parameters namely E1, E2 and G12. Effects of experimental noise on parameter estimates has also been evaluated to explain the observed deviation in estimated parameters with current test configuration.