Predictions of Strength and Delamination Migration in Clamped Tapered Beam Using 3D Continuum Damage Modeling

The clamped tapered beam composite laminates was originally designed by NASA to investigate the initiations of matrix crack and delamination, propagation, and subsequent crack-induced delamination migration from one ply interface to another, where the complex failure mechanisms have sparked growing interest. In this work, the progressive damage analysis of clamped tapered beam composite laminates under static loading is investigated for predicting strength and delamination migration using the 3D continuum damage modeling technique implemented in Abaqus UMAT. The 3D Hashin failure criterion is used to predict the fiber/matrix damage initiation within ply. The 3D continuum damage model is used for intralaminar damage progression, while the cohesive zone model is used for interlaminar damage between plies. The numerical predictions are compared with the experimental data obtained from the existing literatures including the strength and experimental observation of delamination migration distance from loading position. In summary, the numerical predictions accurately reflect the main features of the damage progression observed in the experiments, and the predicted strength and delamination migration shows a good agreement with the experimental results.