Tensile Damage Analysis Method for Composite Laminates Using a Quasi-3-Dimensional Model

Measurement of the strength for laminated composites is very difficult because their failure processes involve various failure modes, which are, for example, interlaminar delamination, destruction of the matrix and interfacial fracture between the fiber and matrix. However, their strength is one of the most important characteristics in structural design using laminated composites. Hence we attempted to develop a fractural progress analysis of laminated composites using a quasi-3-dimensional analysis method under a tensile load. The quasi-3-dimensional model is constructed of shell elements and beam elements which represent the fiber and matrix, respectively. The fractural progress analyses of the laminated composites are carried out to evaluate this proposed model, and are compared with experimental results. Therefore we confirm that this proposed model can simulate a transverse crack and interlaminar delamination independently.