M Heidari-Rarani - Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Isfahan, 81746-73441, Isfahan, Iran
R Jahadi - PhD student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Isfahan, 81746-73441, Isfahan, Iran
P Karami - PhD student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Isfahan, 81746-73441, Isfahan, Iran

In the present study, damage initiation and evolution in a cracked quasi-isotropic composite laminate was investigated under static tensile loading using Puck failure criterion. The laminated composite contains a central crack and made of T300/976 with [0/±45/90]s lay-up. An USDFLD subroutine is written to implement the Puck failure criterion in ABAQUS. Displacement was applied to the laminated composite until the final failure occurs in each element. Material properties of the damaged elements were degraded using stiffness degradation rule. The finite element results showed that the dominant mode of failure in the laminated composite was matrix cracking. The first ply failure occurs in 90° layers and it propagates till the fiber breakage observed in 0° layers. Finally, the required force for damage initiation and maximum load bearing were reported.

Progressive damage, Composite laminate, Puck failure criterion