Three-Dimensional Progressive Damage Analysis of Composite Laminates Containing a Central hole Subjected to Compressive Loading

Abstract

A numerical method is developed for the application of three-dimensional progressive damage analyses in composite laminates containing an open hole with arbitrary geometry and stacking sequence subjected to static compressive loading. The method developed is included in the three-dimensional FEM stress analysis, failure analysis based on three-dimensional Hashin type criterion, the material property degradation rule of ply discount. It is capable of numerically simulating the whole process of failure initiation, propagation and catastrophic failure of the structure and of predicting the ultimate strengths and failure modes of composite laminates containing an open hole. Two different lay orientations and four different W/D with an open hole are analyzed for the ultimate strength and damage progression. On the other hand, four damage mechanisms and the correlation among the damage are studied and discussed in this paper. An excellent agreement was found between data obtained from this study and the existing literature. Keywords-Laminates; Damage mechanics; Delamination; Strength; Finite element analysis(FEA)