Identification of Damage Parameters for Intralaminar Damage Modeling in Laminated Composites Considering Transverse Stress Effects

The aim of this study is to develop an appropriate modeling methodology for the simulation of intralaminar damage in laminated composites under complex loadings. The intralaminar damages are modeled by stiffness reduction controlled by thermodynamic forces as defined in continuum damage mechanics model proposed by Ladeveze. The original method neglected transverse stress in elementary plies during the tensile tests of [45/?45]mS laminates, resulting in variations of the identified damage parameters of Ladeveze model. This study compared the identified damage parameters considering transverse stress effects with those based on the original method. The effect of transverse stress in the identification process on the damage modeling is discussed, and it is found that one of damage coupling parameters and the damage master curves significantly depend on consideration of transverse stress effects. Finally, it is demonstrated that experimental stiffness degradation is well simulated by the prediction using the identified parameters considering transverse stress effects.