The compressive behavior of CFRP laminates with delamination of different shapes using numerical and experimental approaches

Composite laminates often produce delamination due to a series of factors during the manufacture and service process. In order to research the effect of containing oblique elliptical and circular initial delamination damage on the compressive strength of composite laminates, numerical and experimental methods are used in this paper. Finite element models (FEMs) and the progressive damage subroutine USDFLD are developed to predict the damage initiation and extension behavior of the intralaminar of the laminate. Interlaminar damage is predicted based on cohesive zone models (CZM). At the same time, four compression tests containing different initial delamination damage are performed. The results show that experimental measurements of compression tests concur with the numerical predictions and validate the FEMs. The strength and stiffness of the specimens gradually decrease with the increase of the initial delamination area. It reveals that, for the compression process, the delamination damage extends from the edge of the initial damage to the surroundings. The bearing capacity of the composite laminates is mainly determined by the material properties of the fibers and matrix, rather than the initial delamination.