Numerical Simulations of Inter-laminar Damage Evolution in a Composite Wing Box

In this paper, a numerical study has been carried out on skin delamination and skin-stringer debonding growth in a composite wing-box under compressive loading conditions. The adopted numerical models use the Virtual Crack Closure Technique to simulate the inter-laminar damage evolution and the numerical analyses have been performed by means of the FEM code ABAQUS and B2000++. The obtained numerical results have been assessed and compared each other in terms of delaminated area evolution, delamination growth initiation load and strain distributions. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the adopted numerical platforms in predicting the evolution of inter-laminar damages, comparisons with experimental data, in terms of load displacement curves and strains in the debonding area, have been also introduced.