The bearing behavior and failure characteristic of CFRP laminate with cutout under shearing load: Part II. Numerical simulations

In part I of this work, the mechanical performance of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate with cutout of three different shapes (circular, curved-diamond, rounded-rectangular) subjected to shear load was investigated experimentally. This part describes the finite element (FE) simulations of the problem investigated. An efficient laminate-leveled computational model is employed to provide an insight on the failure mechanisms of specimens. The load bearing procedures of specimens, both at pre-buckling and post-buckling stage, are simulated. The characteristics of post-buckling progressive damage undergoing within specimens obtained from modeling are compared with the experimental observations in detail. It is found that the damage model is capable of reproducing the post-buckling progressive damage with complicated coupling effects within thin-walled composite structure costing low computational resources, and good agreement is in general obtained between the numerical simulations and experimental results. Through this comparative study, the progressive damage events within the structure with different shaped cutout help reader in better understanding the bearing performance and underlying failure mechanisms of CFRP laminate with cutout.