Damage evolution on composite cruciform specimens under quasi-static biaxial loading

In the present study carbon epoxy cruciform type specimens with a cross ply lay up, were biaxially or uniaxially loaded in their plane using four independent servohydraulic actuators. Four different biaxial loading ratios were investigated while the applied load was quasi-static. A comparison between experimental observations for the strain evolution of the biaxially loaded central section of the specimen coming from digital image correlation measurements (DIC) and a three dimensional finite element damage model (FEDM) will be shown.