A progressive intra- and inter-laminar damage model to predict the effect of out-of-plane confinement on pin-bearing behaviour of laminated composites

Abstract

In this paper, a progressive intra- and inter-laminar damage model is proposed to study the effect of out-of-plane confinement on the pin-bearing behaviour of laminated composite. The constitutive law for fibre direction is formulated at the ply scale and is related to classical models dealing with matrix and inter-laminar damage. The influence of shear and transverse stresses on fibre damage is represented through a modified damage evolution law. Specific issues resulting from the use of a softening law in a structural analysis are discussed from a physical point of view in order to select a relevant modelling strategy whose limitations are well understood. The experimental procedure is based on an extensive set of tests in order to identify separately most of the material constants. Pin-bearing tests on configurations with and without confinement are used to evaluate the model performances. Results show the model’s ability to predict the damage scenario and the loss of stiffness implied by first damage stages.