Composite materials have been used in structures for centuries. In recent times, composite parts have been used extensively in aircraft structures, automobiles, sporting goods, and many consumer products.

Composite materials are those containing more than one bonded material, each with different structural properties. The main advantage of composite materials is the potential for a high ratio of stiffness to weight. Composites used for typical engineering applications are advanced fiber or laminated composites, such as fiberglass, glass epoxy, graphite epoxy, and boron epoxy.

You can model composite materials with specialized elements called layered elements. After building a model using layered elements, you can perform any structural analysis (including nonlinearities such as large deflection and stress stiffening).