Failure analysis of laminated composites subjected to flexural loadings

Abstract

The failure of laminated composites under out-of-plane loadings is experimentally and numerically investigated. For flexure failure prediction, a modified failure criterion is proposed. A progressive failure algorithm is developed for numerical analyses. In experiments, quasi–isotropic and cross-ply laminated composites are fabricated by using unidirectional carbon fiber and glass fabric prepregs. Three-point bending test is performed and the accuracy of the failure algorithm is verified with experimental results. In addition, the flexure failure behaviors are compared with those of a commercial finite element analysis program using the other failure criteria such as maximum strain, maximum stress, and Tasi–Wu.

Keywords:

• laminated composites
• out-of-plane loading
• failure criteria
• progressive failure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work has supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MSIT) (No. 2017M1A3A3A02016484).