Mesoscale Model for Composite Laminates: Verification and Validation on Scaled Un-Notched Laminates

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Computational Mechanics

Background:

• Composite materials like carbon-fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are crucial in aerospace and automotive industries.
• Understanding and predicting material failure, especially scaling effects, is vital for structural integrity.
• Existing models may not fully capture complex 3D stress states influencing compressive failure in CFRPs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a mesoscale damage model for CFRPs.
• To accurately predict scaling effects in un-notched CFRP laminates under tensile and compressive loading.
• To incorporate complex 3D stress states into longitudinal damage prediction and combine with transverse failure models.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a revised longitudinal damage law considering 3D stress states.
• Integration with a 3D frictional smeared crack model for transverse failure.
• Utilizing ABAQUS/Explicit with solid elements for intralaminar damage and cohesive elements for delamination.
• Inclusion of in-situ ply properties based on position and effective thickness.

Main Results:

• Successful prediction of scaling effects (sublaminate and ply-level) in un-notched CFRP coupons.
• Validation against literature data showing good agreement between simulated and experimental results.
• Demonstrated accuracy in predicting onset and propagation of longitudinal compressive failure mechanisms.

Conclusions:

• The developed mesoscale damage model effectively captures scaling phenomena in CFRP laminates.
• The model's ability to account for 3D stress states improves failure prediction accuracy.
• This validated model serves as a reliable tool for analyzing the structural behavior of CFRP components.