Tensile characteristic length determination of notched woven composite laminates by means of progressive damage analysis

The analysis of notched composite parts in a structure due to the existence of high stress concentration and undetermined behavior is an exigent issue. In this research, the progressive damage analysis has been applied to predict the failure of notched woven glass- epoxy composite laminates under tensile loading. Stress analysis and investigation of the effect of the hole size on it have been performed by the analytical and numerical methods. Developing an UMAT in the ABAQUS finite element package has made the utilization of the 3D progressive damage analysis feasible. Max. Stress, Yamada- Sun and Tsai- Wu failure criterions have been implemented to predict the damage initiation due to the absence of significant failure criteria for woven composites. Instantaneous and recursive property degradation methods have been used to simulate the damage propagation. The tensile characteristic distance has been computed without any experiments. The comparison of stress and failure analysis with experimental results shows good agreement. Finally, using tensile characteristic length obtained by progressive damage method, the possibility of safety factor determination in the composite joints in order to optimum design has been provided.