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Carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite (CFRP) laminates are used in many applications of the aerospace industry, particularly, in aircraft structural components due to their good stiffness to weight ratios compared to traditionally used aluminium. The ability of accurate prediction of the structural response of composites under complex loadings is crucially important for high-end designs and optimisation of composite structures. The accuracy and predictive capabilities of finite element models in the failure analysis of the carbon-epoxy (IM7/977-3) composite laminates have been evaluated. Two load cases were considered, including a 16-ply unidirectional laminate and a cross-ply laminate, and the commercial finite element program ABAQUS was utilised. The 16-ply unidirectional composite laminate (90-degree) was numerically modelled under three point bend loads. The cross ply composite laminate with the layup configuration [0,90]_4S was numerically modelled under shear loads. The failure for both the load cases were analysed using the Hashin’s failure criterion. The numerical results were validated by comparing them against the carefully conducted experimental test data. The difference between the experimental and numerically predicted values of the maximum principal stress and strain were compared to evaluate the accuracy of the finite element models.

Composite materials, Carbon-epoxy, Failure criteria, Progressive damage