Behaviour up to rupture of woven ply laminate structures under static loading conditions

A general model based on continuum damage mechanics (CDM) and a non-local ply scale criterion were developed to describe the failure of carbon woven ply laminated structures. This non-local criterion is based on mean quantities over a fracture characteristic volume (FCV) corresponding to a cylinder with a circular area and a given ply thickness. The nonlinear behaviour and the non-local criterion were implemented in the finite element code ABAQUS. This paper presents new comparisons between the results of experimental data and simulations performed on plates with notches and saw cuts. The results show the efficiency of this approach, even for structures with very high stress gradients. A simplified approach based on the FCV and the Tsai criterion is also presented here and the results obtained with this method are then compared with the experimental data.