Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, (2017), 30(1): 447460

Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics

& Beihang University
Chinese Journal of Aeronautics
cja@buaa.edu.cn
www.sciencedirect.com

Stress analysis and damage evolution in individual

plies of notched composite laminates subjected
to in-plane loads
Hu Junshan a, Zhang Kaifu a,*, Cheng Hui b, Liu Ping a, Zou Peng a, Song Danlong a

a
The Ministry of Education Key Lab of Contemporary Design and Integrated Manufacturing Technology,
Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian 710072, China
b
School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian 710072, China

Received 23 February 2016; revised 5 April 2016; accepted 5 August 2016

Available online 21 December 2016

KEYWORDS Abstract This work aims to investigate local stress distribution, damage evolution and failure of
Damage evolution; notched composite laminates under in-plane loads. An analytic method containing uniformed
Failure mode; boundary equations using a complex variable approach is developed to present layer-by-layer stres-
Failure strength; ses around the notch. The uniformed boundary equations established in series together with confor-
Layer-by-layer stresses; mal mapping functions are capable of dealing with irregular boundary issues around the notch and
User-defined subroutine at infinity. Stress results are employed to evaluate the damage initiation and propagation of notched
composites by progressive damage analysis (PDA). A user-defined subroutine is developed in the
finite element (FE) model based on coupling theories for mixed failure criteria and damage mechan-
ics to efficiently investigate damage evolution as well as failure modes. Carbon/epoxy laminates
with a stacking sequence of [45/0/
60/90]s are used to investigate surface strains, in-plane load
capacity and microstructure of failure zones to provide analytic and FE methods with strong val-
idation. Good agreement is observed between the analytic method, the FE model and experiments
in terms of the stress (strain) distributions, damage evaluation and ultimate strength, and the layer-
by-layer stress components vary according to a combination effect of fiber orientation and loading
type, causing diverse failure modes in individuals.
2016 Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. This is
an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction

* Corresponding author. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites are

E-mail address: zhangkf@nwpu.edu.cn (K. Zhang).
Peer review under responsibility of Editorial Committee of CJA.
Production and hosting by Elsevier
widely used in all fields of aerospace, automobile, electronic
power, and mechanical engineering for several advantages
offered over metals, ceramics, and plastics. These include low
density, robust specific strength, low thermal expansion, corro-
sion resistance and designable characteristics for lightweight,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cja.2016.10.022
1000-9361 2016 Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
448
efficient structures. Cutouts, especially circular and elliptical
shapes, commonly appear in composite structural components
due to requirements for stability, maneuverability, low weight
optimization and accessibility of other systems. This is often
the case in aircraft where composite structures such as wing
spars and thin walls are drilled for electronic wires and hydrau-
lic pipes1 or to facilitate assembly operations.2 Other instances
occur not as part of the initial design of essential structures but
due to material defects or unexpected damage during a service
cycle.3 These are serious and dangerous cases since they are not
supposed to be there. Whatever their reasons for being, the
integrity and continuity of fiber and matrix in the composite
are destroyed; this makes the notch region the weakest part
of the structure and causes serious local stress concentrations
in the vicinity. As a consequence, structural capacity is reduced
and uncertain reactions to external loads may occur and lead
to unexpected fractures in service. In order to avoid potential
safety hazards, accurate analysis of local stress levels and dam-
age evolution of notched laminates are of great significance to
the utilization of the material and lay the foundation for engi-
neering applications.
The determination of stress fields in notched anisotropic
plates has been the focus of many scholars for a long time.
Muskhelishvili4 first introduced complex potential theory to
the isotropic elastic plates and successfully obtained an accu-
rate solution of stress distribution. Analytical solutions for
the stress distribution around holes of different shapes in ani-
sotropic plates were given by Lekhnitskii5 using series meth-
ods. Savin6 presented a much simpler approach by
conformal mapping of Cauchy integrals. Gao7 used a biaxial
loading factor together with an arbitrary orientation angle pre-
viously used to solve the problem of a plate with biaxial load-
ing at infinity, avoiding the superposition of a solution with
two uniaxial loading problems. The stress analysis research
above established the base for later study of notched compos-
ite laminates. Ukadgaonker et al. developed a general solution
for stress around oval holes,8 triangular holes9 with rounded
corners10 and irregular shaped holes11 in cross-ply and angle-
ply orthotropic plates under in-plane loading by superposition
of two stage solutions for boundary conditions. The stresses
were employed together with a series of failure criteria, which
were an extension of the Von Mises criterion for quadratic
interaction, to calculate the first ply failure (FPF) strength.
Similar solutions around a rectangular hole in an infinite iso-
tropic and anisotropic plate were given by Pan et al.12 and
Rao et al.,13 respectively, using the complex variable method.
Sharma14 suggested general solutions for determining the
stress distribution around polygonal holes and investigated
the effect of hole geometry and loading pattern on the stress
concentration factor. Batista15 used a modified solution to
solve problems of stress distribution around polygonal holes
of complex geometry in an infinite plate subjected to uniform
loading at infinity. Remeepazhand and Jafari16 also studied the
central polygonal hole problem in composite plates using
two simple equations with parameters k, c, n and w controlling
the size, shape and bluntness of corners. Toubal et al.17 exper-
imentally investigated the tensile strain field of composite
plates in the presence of stress concentration caused by geo-
metrical cutouts consisting of circular holes by Electronic
Speckle Pattern Interferometer (ESPI). The stress obtained in
experiments is consistently lower than the analytical and
numerical models.
J. Hu et al.
This literature mostly concentrated on stress distribution in
anisotropic plates as well as laminated composites, which are
equivalent anisotropic plates, thus the stresses around cutouts
were simplified to be uniform throughout, regardless of thick-
ness. It should be noted that composite laminates contain sev-
eral plies which possess dissimilar properties due to different
fiber orientations, so the stress distribution in individual plies
should be thoroughly investigated.
The above stress research methodologies and conclusions
establish a theoretical basis for damage and failure of anisotro-
pic plates. As for failure analysis, the damage propagation pro-
cess is often depicted based on progressive damage analysis
(PDA) utilizing numerical and experimental methods.18 Lapc-
zyk and Hurtado19 proposed an anisotropic damage model
suitable for predicating failure and post-failure behavior in
fiber-reinforced materials. The plane stress formulation is used
and the response of the undamaged material is assumed to be
linearly elastic. The evaluation law is based on fracture energy
dissipation and implemented in a finite element code. Zahari
and EI-Zafrany20 developed a progressive analysis algorithm
based on Tsai-Hill failure to model the non-linear material
behavior and capture the compressive response of woven
glass/epoxy composite plates via non-linear finite element anal-
ysis. Rakesh et al.21 introduced a generic finite element model
to investigate the failure of unidirectional glass fiber reinforced
plastic (UD-GFRP) composite laminates with drilled holes
under tensile testing and compared the results with experimen-
tal work done earlier. Effects of joint geometry and stacking
sequence on the bearing strength and damage mode were
investigated by Ondurucu et al.22 and specimens were exam-
ined for failure modes using a scanning electron microscope
(SEM). Kim et al.23 employed rosette strain gauges to measure
the strain around the joint hole during insertion of stainless
steel pins into glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) specimens,
and results were compared with the finite element method. Sat-
apathy et al.24 presented a modified fiber failure fatigue model
to characterize the behavior of laminated composites with a
central circular hole under in-plane fatigue loading. Martins
et al.25 studied the influence of diameter and thickness on fail-
ure pressure during tube burst tests and employed the progres-
sive failure analysis using a damage model by a user subroutine
(UMAT) implemented in ABAQUS software to understand
the behavior of composite tubes under internal pressure. Lee
et al.26 proposed an evaluation method for the progressive fail-
ure of composite laminates built upon Puck failure criterion by
implanted UMAT to efficiently analyze the progressive failure
phenomenon in glass/carbon fiber-reinforced composite lami-
nates. Compression tests were performed by Aljibori et al.27
on 16 fiber-glass laminated plates with and without circular
cut-outs to investigate the effects of varying the centrally
located circular cut-out sizes and fiber angle-ply orientations
on the ultimate load. Similar experiments were also conducted
by Abu et al.28 to investigate the influence of cut-outs on multi-
layer Kevlar-29/epoxy composite laminated plates.
These remarkable works contribute a lot to the failure anal-
ysis of notched anisotropic composites whose layups are quasi-
isotropic, cross-ply, and angle-ply. At the same time, numeri-
cal and advanced experimental methods for progressive failure
have greatly developed. However, the failure criteria employed
in the literature were linear expressions; whereas composite
laminates in special application are not quasi-isotropic
lay-up, composite materials accumulate damage in shear,
Individual plies of notched composite laminates 449
8 r
leading to nonlinear stress-strain relations. The relationship >
> r1 k 1 k
1 cos 2b
> x
> 2
between stress distribution and damage evolution thus needs < r
further investigation. r1 k 1
k
1 cos 2b 2
>
>
y
2
In the present study, an analytical model for layer-by-layer >
: s1 r k
1 sin 2b
>
stress around notches in individual plies of general composite xy
2
laminates is investigated using a complex variable approach
that contains uniformed boundary functions. The functions where r1 1 1
x , ry and sxy are x-direction, y-direction and shear

established in series together with conformal mapping func- loading components along xoy axes, respectively. Through
tions are capable of dealing with irregular boundary issues the variation of parameters k and b, the uniformed external
both around the notch and at infinity. A stress solution is loading form Eq. (2) covers several load conditions, namely
employed to evaluate the progressive damage and failure of uniaxial (k 0), biaxial (k 0, b0) and shear stress
notched laminates based on coupling theories for mixed failure (k
1, b = p/4 or 3p/4), as well as their combinations.
criteria and damage mechanics. A user-defined subroutine is In states of generalized plane stress for laminates, according
then developed in ABAQUS to simulate the damage evolution to Lekhnitskii,5 the generalized Hookes law is valid when
under tensile and compressive loading. Experiments for strain analysis is limited to the linear elastic range. Hookes law in
and failure are conducted using a 3D digital speckle measure- terms of mean stresses rx;y and mean strains
ex;y is given by:
ment system and microscopy study to validate the proposed 2 3 2 32 3

ex a11 a12 a16
x
r
analysis method. 6
7 6 76 7
4 ey 5 4 a12 a22 a26 54 r
y 5 or
ex; y aij  r

x; y 3
2. Analysis for local stress distribution
cxy a16 a26 a66
sxy

2.1. Problem configuration of notched laminates where
ex ,
ey and
cxy are x-direction, y-direction and shear mean
strain components, respectively. r
y and
sxy are x-direction,

x , r
y-direction and shear mean stress components, respectively. aij
A composite laminate with a traction free notch under inplane i; j 1; 2; 6 are effective coefficients of the compliance matrix
loading is investigated in Fig. 1. The inplane loading is in the for symmetric multilayered composite plates.
form of stress resultants in an arbitrary coordinate system x0 oy0 In the absence of body force, the mean stress components
rotated clockwise by an angle b from the global coordinate sys-
x; y can be expressed in terms of Airys stress function Ux; y:
r
tem xoy, as shown in Fig. 1(a). D is the diameter of the circle
that encloses the notch. It can be written in terms of Gaos 8
>
> @2U
loading conditions7 using stress loading r1 >
>
x 2
r
x0 ; y0 as follows: > @y
8 1 >
>
<
< ry0 r
>
r

y
@2U 4
r1 >
> @x2
x0 kr 1 >
>
>
: s1 0 >
>
:
sxy @ U
2
x0 y0
>
@x@y
where r1 1 1 0 0
x0 , ry0 and sx0 y0 are x -direction, y -direction and shear
loading components, respectively, r is applied stress in y0 direc- In order to ensure the integrity and continuity during defor-
tion, and k is biaxial loading factor defined by the ratio of r1 x0
mation, the mean strains
ex; y should meet the equilibrium
to r1
y0 .
equation:
The notched plate is projected to a unit circle on f plane @ 2
ex @ 2
ey @ 2
cxy
under normalized loading in Fig. 1(b) with an angle h to 2 5
@y2 @x @x@y
denote hole position. The equivalent loading r1 x; y along xoy
axes corresponding to original loading along x0 oy0 axes is By substituting Eqs. (3) and (4) into Eq. (7), a forth order
obtained by transformation of axis: differential equation is obtained:

Fig. 1 Problem configuration and solution of a notched composite under in-plane loading.
450 J. Hu et al.

@4U @4U @4U @4U Through substituting Eqs. (9) and (11) into Eq. (4), the
a22
2a26 3 2a12 a66 2 2
2a16 parameters B, B0 and C0 are obtained by the following equa-
@x4 @x @y @x @y @x@y3
tion group:
@4U 2 2   32 3 2 1 3
a11 0 6
21 l22 l
l1 l
22 i l22
l

22 B rx
@y4
6 76 0 7 6 0:5r1 7
The general solution of bi-harmonic Eq. (6) is determined 4 1 1 0 54 B 5 4 y 5 12
by roots of the following characteristic equation:
1 l2 l
l1 l
2 il2
l
2 C0 s1
xy

a11 l4
2a16 l3 2a12 a66 l2
2a26 l a22 0 7

2.2.2. Boundary conditions at the notch edge
In general, it can be proved that Eq. (7) has four distinct
roots, which are always complex conjugates in pairs: At the notch edge, which is traction free, the notch area on the
8 z plane is projected onto the exterior of a unit circle on f com-
> l1 a1 ib1 plex plane using the conformal mapping method (Fig. 1). The
>
>
< l a ib unit circle is defined by the Euler formula f eih in Fig. 1(b).
2 2 2
8
>
>

l a1
ib1
This opens up the possibility of a simple general approach to
>
:
1

2 a2
ib2 determine the stress functions of the actual notch contour

l
independently.
where a1 , a2 , b1 , b2 are real numbers and b1 > 0, b2 > 0. l1 , l2 The mapping function for the elliptic notch in anisotropic
and their conjugates are complex parameters of a plane stress cases from z plane to f plane is defined by:
state. They are determined by effective compliance coefficients      
R 1 1
aij and can be used to describe the degree of material zp xp f 1 m1 f i1
m1
f lp
anisotropy. 2 f f
Through the integral operation of Eq. (6), the stress func- p 1; 2 13
tion Ux; y can be expressed by the real part of two complex
where R a b=2 is a constant for size of the hole, and
functions F1 z1 and F2 z2 : m1 a
b=a b is defined to control the ellipticity.
Ux; y 2ReF1 z1 F2 z2 z1 ; z2 2 Sh 9 Parameters a and b are major and minor axes of the elliptic
hole, respectively. These are typically: (1) m1 0 or a b: cir-
where zp x lp y p 1; 2 are anisotropic complex coordi-
cular holes; (2) 0 < m1 < 1 or ab: elliptical holes; (3) m1 ! 1
nates, and Sh represents the boundary conditions of the lami- or a  b: blunted cracks.
nate in Fig. 1(a). So, the problem is reduced to finding two By the projection process and taking Eq. (13) into the uni-
complex analytical stress functions that satisfy the boundary formed boundary Eq. (10) on f plane, the boundary equations
conditions at the notch edge as well as infinity. in f plane are written as:
8
2.2. Determination of analytic stress functions > X
n
< uf uz1 c lnx1 f Bx1 f Ak f
k
>
:
k1
Pn
Here, in the issue of plane stress state, the uniformed boundary 0 0 0
k
wf wz2 c lnx2 f B iC x2 f k1 Bk f
equations uz1 and wz2 are developed in the form of deriva-
14
tives of F1 and F2:
8 where parameters Ak , Bk k 1; 2; . . . are constants of stress
dF1 X1 an
>
> uz1 c ln z1 Bz1 functions. The resultant stress boundary conditions are deter-
< dz1 n1 zn
mined by mean resultant forces XS in x-direction and YS in
X1 bn z1 ; z2 2 Sh
1
>
> dF y-direction:
: wz2 2 c0 ln z2 B0 iC0 z2
dz2 n1 zn
2
( R
2Rel1 uf l2 wfS S X ds
10 R 15
2Reuf wfS
S Y ds
where parameters c and c0 are complex variables of the notch
boundary. Parameters B, B0 and C0 are loading condition con- It is seen that the boundary of the notch is free of traction,
tents. Parameters an and bn are series coefficients determined which indicates that the mean resultant forces on the notch are
by the boundary conditions Sh around the cutouts and at zero:
(
infinity. X0
16
Y0
2.2.1. Remote boundary conditions
Parameters c and c0 are confirmed to be zero, and the log-
At the infinite plate edge (jzj ! 1), the mean stress compo- arithmic terms drop out. The rest of the parameters in series
nents reach the applied stress loading of the normalized terms are obtained by substituting Eqs. (14) and (16) into
boundary condition: Eq. (15):
8
>
x r1
lim r 8
>
> x!1 x
> l2 K1 K2
K3 K4 m1 l2 K1 K2
K3 K4
< < A1
> l1
l2

y r1
lim r 11
> y!1 y
B
l1 K1 K2
K3 K4 m1 l1 K1 K2
K3 K4 17
>
> lim
s s1 >
> 1 l1
l2
: :
y
x!1; y!1 xy
Ak Bk 0; k 2; 3; 4 . . .
Individual plies of notched composite laminates 451

where K1 , K2 , K3 and K4 are complex constants. They are where rL , rT and sLT are longitudinal, transverse and shear
determined by: stress components in principal directions of the kth ply, respec-
8 tively. m and n are parameters in stress transformed matrix Tk
> R
>
> K1 B1 il1 B0 iC0 1 il2 k
>
> 2 decided by fiber orientation angle of the kth ply. Qij
>
>
>
> R i; j 1; 2; 6 is the transformed reduced stiffness matrix for
< K2 B1
il1 B0 iC0 1
il2
2 18 the kth layer. Eq. (22) can be written in contracted notation as:
>
> R 0 0
>
> K l B1 il l B iC 1 il k k
>
>
3
2 1 1 2 2
rL; T Tk  Qij  aij  r

x;y 23
>
>
> R
: K4 l B1
il l B iC 1
il
0 0
2 1 1 2 2

3. Analysis for damage and failure

2.3. Local stresses around notches of individual plies
As mentioned before, one of the main purposes of determining
local stress distribution in individual plies around the notch is
By substituting the analytic stress functions into Eq. (4), the
to investigate the damage and failure of the perforated lami-
mean stress components around the hole in global coordinates
nate accurately. In progressive damage analysis (PDA) the-
(Cartesian coordinates in Fig. 1) are obtained through the fol-
ory,31 composites are materials characterized by complicated
lowing equations:
8 failure phenomena that interact. The onset of failure in an
 0 0 
> 2 u f 2 w f
> individual ply generally does not lead to the structures col-
>
> x

r 2Re l l
>
>
1 0
x f 2 0
x2 f lapse, and this may still not occur until the failure has spread
>
>  0 1 
< u f w f 0 to each of the multiple plies, indicating that some plies fail

y 2Re 0
r 0 19 before others. Since the notch region is the weakest part of a
>
> x1 f x2 f
>
>   composite plate, the damage initiates around the notch.
>
> u0 f w0 f
>
>
sxy
2Re l1 l2 0
: 0
x1 f x2 f
3.1. Failure criterion
According to the classical laminate theory29,30, laminate
strains can be written in terms of the midplane strains e0x;y Most failure criteria are extended from the von Mises criterion
and midplane curvatures jx;y as follows: for quadratic interaction.32 They allow the failure of a whole
ply to be checked, but ignore the distinct failure modes of com-
2 3 2 0 3 2 3
ex ex jx posites. Given this, the mixed failure criteria, which combines
6 e 7 6 e0 7 6 7 Hanshin criteria and maximum criteria, differs greatly from
4 y 5 4 y 5 z4 jy 5 or ex;y e0x;y zjx;y 20
them. It not only allows distinguishing between failure in ten-
cxy cxy
0
jxy sion compression as well as fiber and matrix, but also takes
nonlinear shear stress-strain behavior into consideration. The
where ex , ey and cxy are x-direction, y-direction and shear mixed failure criteria33 are given by:
strain components in z thickness layer, and e0x , e0y and c0xy are  2 
x-direction, y-direction and shear strain components in the rT 2s2 G12 3as4LT
emt LT2 24
midplane. jx , jy and jxy are x-direction, y-direction and tor- Yt 2Sc =G12 3aS4c
sional curvatures in midplane, respectively. 
 2
For the symmetric laminates studied here, it can be proven rT 2s2LT G12 3as4LT
that the coupling stiffness coefficients Bij i; j 1; 2; 6 are emc  25
Yc 2S2c G12 3aS4c
zero, which indicates the resultant and moment terms are
uncoupled. Hence the curvature of midplane jx;y is equal to  2 
rL 2s2 G12 3as4LT
zero. So, the strain at an arbitrary point of the notch edge eft LT2  26
throughout its thickness is the same as midplane strain and Xt 2Sc G12 3aS4c
the mean strain:  2
rL
ex; y e0x; y
ex; y 21 efc 27
Xc
The stress components in the kth ply in principal direction
k  2 
rL; T are calculated by the following equation modified from rL 2s2LT G12 3as4LT
efs  28
Stress-Strain Equation and the stress transformation of axis: Xc 2S2c G12 3aS4c
2 3 2 2 32 3
rL m n2 2mn Q11 Q12 Q16 where emt , emc , eft , efc and efs are failure indices that denote
6 7 6 76 7 matrix tensile, matrix compression, fiber tensile, fiber compres-
4 rT 5 4 n2 m2
2mn 5 4 Q12 Q22 Q26 5
sion and the fiber-matrix shear-out, respectively. The parame-
sLT k
mn mn m2
n2 k Q16 Q26 Q66 k ter a is a material constant that is determined experimentally
2 32 3
a11 a12 a16
x
r according to Chang and Lessard34 and commonly takes the
6 76 7 value of 2.44  10
8 MPa
3 in the Users Manual of Abaqus
 4 a12 a22 a26 54 r
y 5
a16 a26 a66
sxy 6.11. Once an index exceeds 1.0, the corresponding failure
occurs. The terms Xt , Xc are tensile and compressive strengths
22 in the fiber direction and Yt , Yc are tensile and compressive
452
strengths in the traverse direction. Sc is the in-plane shear
strength.
3.2. Material property degradation rules
From the phenomenological viewpoint, the defect initiation/
propagation phenomenon for a material is strongly related
to the degradation of the materials capacity, and the most vis-
ible aspect is the degradation of the materials stiffness. There-
fore, it is possible to describe the progressive failure of a
composite laminate by numerically representing the correla-
tion between an increase in the materials internal damage
and a decrease in the materials stiffness. The Camanho and
Matthews degradation rules35 (Table 1) are adopted because
they are closest to the real conditions according to the research
of Chang.34 Parameters E1 , E2 , G12 and t12 are the longitudinal
Youngs modulus, transverse Youngs modulus, shear modu-
lus and Poisons ratios of the lamina. E01 , E02 , G012 and t012 are
material properties after degradation.
3.3. Progressive failures of notched laminates
After using Eq. (23) to obtain the stress distribution around
the notch in each individual ply, the mixed failure criteria is
employed to check the failure state around the notch edge.
On the occurrence of some sort of failure, the failing ply
should be degraded according to Table 1, which causes redis-
tribution of stresses around the notch. Thus the failure state
of the notch edge will be rechecked. The procedure of stress
redistribution and failure recheck will continue until all plies
fail or fiber failure occurs, causing sharp decline of carrying
capacity. So, the location of damage initiation and final failure
strength can be obtained during the analysis. Failure strength
here refers to the maximum permissible remote stress loading
applied.30
4. Numerical implementation
The stress distribution, damage and strength of notched spec-
imens were also investigated using FE analysis implemented in
the commercial software ABAQUS 6.11/standard. A compos-
ite laminate with a general stacking sequence of [45/0/
60
/90]s was chosen as the investigated object, and the material
Table 1 Property degradation rules of Camanho and
Matthews.
Failure mode Property degradation rules
Matrix tensile failure
  E02 0:2E2 ; m012 0; G012 0:2G12
k
rL > 0
Matrix compression failure
  E02 0:4E2 ; m012 0; G012 0:4G12
k
rL < 0
Fiber tensile failure E01 0:07E1 ; m012 0
 
k
rT > 0
Fiber compression failure E01 0:14E1 ; m012 0
k
(rT < 0)
Fiber-matrix shear-out failure m012 0; G012 0
 
k
rL < 0
J. Hu et al.
properties are given in Table 2. The specimen configuration
for the open hole tensile (OHT) test is illustrated in Fig. 2
according to ASTM D5766M-02a Standard.36 The open hole
compressive (OHC) test followed ASTM D 6484/6484M-
04.37 The specimen geometry was similar to that used for the
OHC test. The aspect ratio met the condition W=D P 4 so
that the external boundary effect was negligible.38
In the FE model, the 3D eight-node layered continuum
shell element was employed for the laminate. The mesh was
structured using linear elements with reduced-integration
(SC8R), and the notch region was highly refined by partition
to capture the high near-hole stress gradients. A planar mesh
size of 0.188 mm  0.275 mm in (in x-y plane) in the vicinity
of the hole was used while a coarser mesh was used away from
the zone of the interest to computation cycles. In the thickness
direction, a single layer of elements was used to model each
ply. The approximate element size was 0.206 mm 
0.188 mm  0.375 mm. Successive space discretization was
compared, varying the element size surrounding the hole to
verify that the final mesh size was enough to provide accurate
results without expensive computational cost. A total of 92,345
eight-node brick elements were employed to model the speci-
men. The specimen was encastre on one side and applied ten-
sile or compressive stress loading on the other side. Two lines,
between which the length was L-2S, were marked to define the
elongation corresponding to the part of the specimen that was
not griped. The mesh and boundary conditions (BCs) are
shown in Fig. 3.
The progressive model is implemented in ABAQUS by
applying a separate subroutine called user-define field
(USDFLD).39 In the analysis, the material properties depend
on six field variables (FVs). The first five FVs from FV1 to
FV5 represent failure indexes corresponding to emt , emc , eft ,
efc and efs . The last one, FV6, denotes the shear damage
parameter. The algorithm is illustrated in Fig. 4. In the begin-
ning, the FVs and the solution-dependent state variables
(SDVs) are set to 0 and the material properties are equal to
their initial values. Then the load is increased gradually; For
each load increment, several iterations are necessary before
the analysis converges to an equilibrium state. At the end of
each increment, stresses, failure indices and shear damage
parameter are computed at the integration points. The value
of the shear damage parameter is directly assigned to the cor-
responding FVs and used to degrade the shear modulus. The
values of the failure indices are stored as SDVs. Once an
SDV exceeds 1.0, the corresponding FV is set to 1 and main-
tains this value until the end of the analysis. Meanwhile, the
material properties are automatically reduced according to
the degradation rules in Table 1. With each increasing applied
load, the procedure is repeated until the program terminates
due to excessive element distortion. Since equilibrium will
not be reestablished after degradation of properties, small load
increments should be set to obtain an accurate solution.40
5. Experimental investigation
The damage and failure behavior of notched composite lami-
nates is also investigated on a Bairoe electronic universal test-
ing machine with a load capacity of 100 kN. The tests were run
in displacement control at a rate of 2 mm/min. Loading
stopped after dropping 30% from the peak load. A non-
Individual plies of notched composite laminates 453

Table 2 Material properties of carbon-epoxy T300/3526.

E1 (GPa) E2 (GPa) t12 G12 (GPa) Xt (MPa) Xc (MPa) Yt (MPa) Yc (MPa) Sc (MPa)
133 10.4 0.29 4.14 1830 872 37.7 137 69.7

Fig. 2 Specimen configuration of composite for open hole test.

Fig. 3 Mesh and BCs of the FE model.

Fig. 5 Test machine with digital speckle measurement system

and specimen processing.

Fig. 4 Algorithm for ABAQUS user-defined subroutine.
contact measurement method, 3D digital speckle measurement
system (DSMS), was used to investigate the strain field in the
vicinity of the hole in the notched composite plate. The system
is based on a 3D digital image correlation (DIC) system with
binocular stereo vision technique that together perform full-
field 3D measurements of surface strain and out-of-plane
deformation of the joints, as shown in Fig. 5(a). The principle
is to track an applied surface pattern during loading by
454
continuously taking digital images of the surface.41 Two
charge coupled device (CCD) cameras and two light emitting
diode (LED) sources are required for measurement. To ensure
data synchronization, DSMS was connected with the testing
machine by a synchronous data transmission device.
The CFRP laminate was fabricated through hand lay-up
method using resin prepregs, and specimens were processed
with a water jet cutter to avoid defects caused by cutting heat.
The material properties and specimen geometry are the same
as the FE model in Section 5. Holes were drilled and reamed
with carbide-tipped tools to attain fine surface quality, .then
surfaces of the specimens were polished with sandpaper (first
using a grain size of 800 then a grain size of 2000) to ensure
a smooth surface. All the specimens were cleaned with alcohol
to remove grease and dust before the test. A white background
was painted on the testing surface of the specimens using spray
paint, and later small black spray paint droplets were subtly
applied with an appropriate density to make a high contrast-
pattern, as shown in Fig. 5(b). Images of speckle pattern were
recorded at a frequency of 5 Hz. The VIC 3D software calcu-
lated the accumulated strain by comparing the subsequent
images with the first image, which was taken as a reference.
6. Results and discussion
6.1. Experimental verification of the strain distribution around
the notch
The strain distributions around the notch on the surface of the
specimen under tensile and compressive loading are presented
in Figs. 6 and 7, respectively. The test was repeated three times,
and the strains in the vicinity of the open hole were extracted
by DSMS (Fig. 5(b)) to verify the validation of the theory and
FE model. Since the strains around the notch are center sym-
metric, only those whose angular position h ranges from 0 to
180 are revealed.
The experimental results show relatively good trending
alongside the proposed analytical solution and FE method
with acceptable amplitude errors. There are two possible rea-
sons for the errors: Either the open hole is a singularity at
the surface of the specimen, or the fragmentary grid on the
hole boundary cannot be used to calculate the strain field.42
In fact, the strains obtained by DSMS are the same as for
the ring belt, which is a small offset from the hole edge. The
Fig. 6 Strain distribution around circular notch of composite laminates under tensile loading.
J. Hu et al.
strains fade much more sharply along the radial direction at
the points where the strain concentrations are the most serious
at the edge of the hole, so the obtained strains from ring belt
near these points are apparently smaller than those from the
hole edge.
The small error between analytical and FE results is due to
the algorithm in the FE method, which is a numerical and
approximate solution as compared to an analytical solution.
Actually, the strains under tension and compression possess
the opposite distribution law due to the tensile and compres-
sive deformation state of specimen in either the x or y axial
direction. For strains in the x axial direction, maximum strain
occurs at the 90 point where by pass load goes through net
tension plane and causes larger strain than any other part of
the specimen. As for strains in the y axial direction, extreme
points occur at regions around 0 and 90 due to transverse
contracting under tension (Fig. 6(b))or transverse stretching
under compression (Fig. 7(b)). Extreme points at 45 and
135 are caused by shear effect.
6.2. Stress distribution around the hole in individual layers
The layer-by-layer stress distributions under tensile and com-
pressive loading are provided separately in Figs. 8 and 9 to give
clear insight into the mechanical behavior of notched compos-
ite laminates. Good agreement is observed between theory and
FEA, thus providing confidence in the accuracy of the present
results. Stress components in individual plies are shown to be
highly non-uniform throughout the laminate thickness. The
normalized longitudinal stresses in an individual layer have a
much larger magnitude than the transverse and tangential
stresses, reflecting the specific characteristic of anisotropic
material in which carbon fibers bear most of the load.
It is seen that the stress concentration level in a layer
depends on the relative angle between the fiber orientation
and loading direction. The same dependence exists for concen-
tration regions. For longitudinal stress, the smaller the angle is,
the higher concentration level found near the region where the
fiber direction is tangential to the hole perimeter. This can
explain why the 0 layer exhibit the highest stress peaks of
8.65 near 91.8 and is the most effective in carrying the axial
load while the 90 layer has the smallest concentration level of
2.25 at 0. The transverse stresses in each layer exhibit peaks
at locations where the fiber direction deviates most from the
Individual plies of notched composite laminates 455

Fig. 7 Strain distribution around circular notch of composite laminates under compressive loading.

Fig. 8 Stress distribution around circular notch in individual layers of composite laminates under tensile loading.

Fig. 9 Stress distribution around circular notch in individual layers of composite laminates under compressive loading.

loading direction or where the fiber direction is normal to the
notch boundary. So the 90 layer shows the largest concentra-
tion of 0.62 near 90 while the 0 layer has a level of 0.18
near 0. Actually, there is adverse distribution rule between
longitudinal and transverse stresses. For tangential stress influ-
enced by the shear effect, higher degrees of concentration are
found in layers whose fiber orientation possesses an angle in
the loading direction.
6.3. Damage initiation and propagation of notched composite
laminates
Damage initiation and propagation was evaluated by compar-
ing screenshots of various failure modes in different increment
steps (IS). Some of the important damage initiation locations
were also predicted using the analytical method in section
3.3. A microscopy study that investigated micro-scale failures
occurring in the vicinity of the hole using scanning electron
microscope (SEM) is shown in Fig. 12 to validate the damage
mode simulated in the FE model.
Fig. 10 shows the failure mode (i.e., matrix tensile, matrix
compress, fiber tensile, fiber compress, and fiber-matrix shear)
in different ply orientations under tensile loading. Matrix ten-
sile failure, which onset first at 92.72 in the 90 layer, was the
dominant failure mode in early increment steps. This damage,
though possibly not affecting tensile strength much, was
caused by transverse stress concentration and spread to other
layers with increasing loading. Fiber tensile failure occurred
456 J. Hu et al.

Fig. 10 Damage initiation and propagation of notched composite laminates under tensile loading.

Fig. 11 Damage initiation and propagation of notched composite laminates under compressive loading.
Individual plies of notched composite laminates
at 88.71 in the 0 layer and was accompanied by matrix com-
pressive failure in later increment steps. As loading increased,
fiber damage propagated across the net tension plane causing
dramatic decrease in load capacity. Matrix-fiber shear failure
was observed due to excessive transverse shrinkage in late
loading increments. The failure mode under compressive load-
ing where matrix compressive failure initiation was observed at
88.4 in the 90 layer and propagates in early increment steps is
presented in Fig. 11. Fiber compressive failure was found
along with matrix-fiber shear in the 0 layer before specimen
buckling deformation. The initiation location of fiber compres-
sive damage occurred where fiber direction was normal to the
hole perimeter. Tensile failure rarely appeared in the process.
Microscopy investigation of damaged specimen form tests
was conducted to back up the progressive failure results from
FE model. In the microscopic morphology, matrix crack
(Fig. 12(a)) and fiber breakage (Fig. 12(b)), which corre-
sponded to matrix tensile failure and fiber tensile failure from
FE results in Fig. 10, were observed as common micro-scale
failure modes in OHT specimens. Matrix crush (Fig. 12(c)),
fiber buckling (Fig. 12(d)) and matrix-fiber shear (Fig. 12(e))
were dominant failure modes in compressive specimens, just
Fig. 12 Scanning electron microscope images of damage types in the vicinity of the notch.
Fig. 13 Comparison of failure results between experimental test and FE model under tensile loading.
457
as the FE model simulated in Fig. 11. Slight delamination is
also found in the experiment because excessive load destroyed
the compatibility of deformation among layers. This is beyond
the elastic range and not considered in the analytical solution.
To further support the progressive failure results from the
FE model, strain concentration and crack growth path on
the specimen surface were captured by DSMS to compare with
the damage of the 45 layer (surface layer) in the composites,
and the results are listed in Figs. 13 and 14. For OHT testing,
the initial damage points induced by matrix tensile failure
(Fig. 13(c)) matched very well with the zones of strain concen-
tration (Fig. 13(a)), and the damage propagation path follows
the crack profile. Fiber tensile failure (fiber tensile rupture) is
also observed in both test results (Fig. 13(b)) and the FE
results (Fig. 13(d)). As for OHC testing, the initial damage
points of failure (Fig. 14(c)) were in accordance with the zones
of strain concentration around the hole (Fig. 14(a)). The fiber-
matrix shear-out failure in the 45 layer (Fig. 14(d)) resulted in
surface cracking of the specimen (Fig. 14(b)) because they pos-
sessed the same growth path. The above analysis provided suf-
ficient credibility to the validation of the FE model for
progressive failure analysis.
458 J. Hu et al.

Fig. 14 Comparison of failure results between experimental test and FE model under compressive loading.

6.4. Failure strength
The load-displacement plots of experimental and FE simula-
tion results for the notched composite laminates are shown
in Figs. 15 and 16. The slope of the linearity in the experimen-
tal tests (i.e. elastic specimen stiffness) is seen to be very well
captured by the numerical models, indicating that the compos-
ite can be regarded as linear-elastic material despite its brittle-
ness. The stiffness of the specimen (slope of the curve) from the
test is smaller than that from FE results due to the defects of
the composite laminates and the degradation rules for the
material properties. The OHC test shows slight nonlinear

Fig. 15 Load-displacement curves of notched composite laminates under tensile test.

Fig. 16 Load-displacement curves of notched composite laminates under compressive test.

Individual plies of notched composite laminates
behavior at the start of the curve because the specimen slightly
buckled under compressive loading. Since the OHC specimens
were not ruptured, compressive failure is much more moderate
than in the OHT test. The nonlinear behavior observed near
the peak load is associated with severe damage in the speci-
mens leading to fracture.
In the tensile test, there is a protuberant point at a load of
247 MPa, which is mainly caused by the initiation of fiber ten-
sile damage around the notch in the 0 layer along with serious
matrix tensile failure in all plies. With each load increment, the
fiber tensile damage spreads across the tension plane at 0
through thickness into 90,
60,+45 layers in the vicinity
of the hole, resulting in drastic fluctuations in the curve. The
experimental ultimate strength was 484.6 MPa with an error
of 7.7% compared with the FE result of 524.9 MPa. In the
compressive test, the main damage mode in an earlier state
was matrix compressive failure. Fiber buckling failure occurs,
especially in the 0 layer in the net tension plan, causing a
quick shock in the load capacity curve. As the load increased,
buckling failure extended beyond the surroundings of the
notch and caused bending of the specimen. Since the specimens
were not ruptured, the compressive failure is much more mod-
erate than in the tensile test. There was a difference of 5.3%
between the test strength of 206.1 MPa and FE result of
217.5 MPa.
7. Conclusions
This research investigates the layer-by layer stress components,
and the initiation and propagation of damage and failure in
notched composite laminates by analytic method and FE
model, both of which are validated by experimental tests.
There is good agreement between the analytic method and
the FE model in terms of the stress (strain) distributions, dam-
age initiation and location of failure modes, and experiments
on strain by DSMS and microscopy study by SEM provide
them with strong suitability and validation. The proposed ana-
lytic fundamentals present a dependable and manageable alter-
native to evaluate stress level and damage initiation quickly,
while the FE model simulates the damage evolution process
thoroughly. Several conclusions can be drawn from the
research:
(1) The stress components are all non-uniform and periodic
in different plies and caused by the anisotropy of the
laminates. The magnitude of longitudinal stress is much
larger than that of transverse stress and tangential stress
due to the high elastic modulus of the fiber contrasting
with the matrix.
(2) The layer-by-layer stress distributions around cutouts
are affected by fiber orientation and loading direction.
The high stress level of rL mainly occurs where the fiber
direction is tangential to the hole perimeter. The concen-
tration of rT is observed where the fiber direction is nor-
mal to the notch boundary. The sLT is more influenced
by shear effect and possesses more extreme points than
rL and rT .
(3) Matrix dominant failure is common in early states of in-
plane loading. It initiates at the hole edge in the ply
whose fiber orientation is perpendicular to the load
direction and then propagates to other plies. Fiber
459
damage occurs and builds until matrix damage causes
ruptures. While fiber buckling occurs in most plies, fiber
breakage is found in the ply where the fiber orientation
is parallel with loading direction.
(4) Load-displacement plots exhibit a long linear state, indi-
cating that the composites can be regarded as linear-
elastic material despite of their brittleness. Matrix dam-
age evolution does not affect tensile strength much while
fiber damage initiation may cause sudden shocks in
plots. CFRP laminates possess better tensile load capac-
ity than compressive ones.
Acknowledgements
This work was sponsored by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China, with three different programs (No.
51275410, No. 51305349 and No. 51305352) that supports
the present work financially. The authors would like to
acknowledge the editors and the anonymous reviewers for
their insightful comments.
References
1. Ostergaard MG, Ibbotson AR, Roux OL, Prior AM. Virtual
testing of aircraft structures. CEAS Aeronaut J 2011;1(1
4):83103.
2. Singh I, Bhatnagar N. Drilling-induced damage in uni-directional
glass fiber reinforced plastic (UD-GFRP) composite laminate. Int
J Adv Manuf Tech 2006;27(910):87782.
3. Senthil K, Arockiarajan A, Palaninathan R, Santhosh B, Usha
KM. Defects in composite structures: Its effects and prediction
methods a comprehensive review. Compos Struct
2013;106:13949.
4. Muskhelishvili NI. Some basic problems of the mathematical theory
of elasticity. Noordhoff P. Ltd., 1953, 123129.
5. Lekhnitskii SG. Anisotropic plates. New York: Gordon and
Breach; 1968. p. 415.
6. Savin GN. Stress concentration around holes. New York: Pergamon
Press; 1961. p. 16974.
7. Gao XL. A general solution of an infinite elastic plate with an
elliptic hole under biaxial loading. Int J Pres Ves Pip 1996;67
(1):95104.
8. Ukadgaonker VG, Awasare PJ, Gade SV. Stress analysis of door
and window of a passenger aircraft. Aeronaut J 2000;104
(1039):40914.
9. Ukadgaonker VG, Rao DKN. Stress distribution around trian-
gular holes in anisotropic plates. Compos Struct 1999;45
(3):17183.
10. Ukadgaonker VG, Rao DKN. A general solution for stresses
around holes in symmetric laminates under inplane loading.
Compos Struct 2000;49(3):33954.
11. Ukadgaonker VG, Kakhandki V. Stress analysis for an ortho-
tropic plate with an irregular shaped hole for different in-plane
loading conditions Part 1. Compos Struct 2005;70(3):22574.
12. Pan ZX, Cheng YS, Liu J. Stress analysis of a finite plate with a
rectangular hole subjected to uniaxial tension using modified stress
functions. Int J Mech Sci 2013;75:26577.
13. Rao DKN, Babu MR, Reddy KRN, Sunil D. Stress around
square and rectangular cutouts in symmetric laminates. Compos
Struct 2010;92(12):284559.
14. Sharma DS. Stress distribution around polygonal holes. Int J
Mech Sci 2012;65(1):11524.
15. Batista M. On the stress concentration around a hole in an infinite
plate subject to a uniform load at infinity. Int J Mech Sci 2011;53
(4):25461.
460
16. Remeepazhand J, Jafari M. Stress analysis of perforated compos-
ite plates. Compos Struct 2005;71(34):4638.
17. Toubal L, Karama M, Lorrain B. Stress concentration in a
circular hole in composite plate. Compos Struct 2005;68(1):316.
18. Liu PF, Zheng JY. Recent developments on damage modeling and
finite element analysis for composite laminates: a review. Mater
Des 2010;31(8):382534.
19. Lapczyk I, Hurtado JA. Progressive damage modeling in fiber-
reinforced materials. Compos Part A Appl Sci 2007;38
(11):233341.
20. Zahari R, EI-Zafrany A. Progressive failure analysis of composite
laminated stiffened plates using the finite strip method. Compos
Struct 2009;87(1):6370.
21. Rakesh PK, Singh I, Kumar D. Failure prediction in glass fiber
reinforced plastics laminates with drilled hole under uni-axial
loading. Mater Des 2010;31(6):30027.
22. Ondurucu A, Esendemir U, Tunay RF. Progressive failure
analysis of glass-epoxy laminated composite pinned-joints. Mater
Des 2012;36:61725.
23. Kim SY, He B, Shim CS, Kim D. An experimental and numerical
study on the interference-fit pin installation process for cross-ply
glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP). Compos Part B-Eng
2013;54:15362.
24. Satapathy MR, Vinayak BG, Jayaprakash K, Naik NK. Fatigue
behavior of laminated composites with a circular hole under in-
plane multiaxial loading. Mater Des 2013;51:34756.
25. Martins LAL, Bastian FL, Netto TA. Reviewing some design
issues for filament wound composite tubes. Mater Des
2014;55:2429.
26. Lee CS, Kim JH, Kim SK, Ryu DM, Lee JM. Initial and
progressive failure analyses for composite laminates using Puck
failure criterion and damage-coupled finite element method.
Compos Struct 2015;121:40619.
27. Aljibori HSS, Chong WP, Mahlia TMI, Chong WT, Edi P,
Alqrimli H, et al. Load-displacement behavior of glass fiber/epoxy
composite plates with circular cut-outs subjected to compressive
load. Mater Des 2010;31(1):46674.
28. Talib AR Abu, Ramadhan AA, Rafie ASM, Zahari R. Influence
of cut-out hole on multi-layer Kevlar-29/epoxy composite lami-
nated plates. Mater Des 2013;43:8998.
29. Jones RM. Mechanics of composite materials. 2nd ed. Philadel-
phia: Taylor & Francis; 1999. p. 10921.
J. Hu et al.
30. Muc A, Rys J, Latas W. Limit load-carrying capacity for spherical
laminated shells under external-pressure. Compos Struct 1993;25
(14):295303.
31. Zhang JY, Liu FR, Zhao LB, Chen YL, Fei BJ. A progressive
damage analysis based characteristic length method for multi-bolt
composite joints. Compos Struct 2014;108:91523.
32. Pietropaoli E. Progressive failure analysis of composite structures
using a constitutive material model (USERMAT) developed and
implemented in ANSYS. Appl Compos Mater 2012;19(3
4):65768.
33. Ribeiro ML, Vandepitte D, Tita V. Damage model and progres-
sive failure analyses for filament wound composite laminates. Appl
Compos Mater 2013;20(5):97592.
34. Chang FK, Lessard LB. Damage tolerance of laminated compos-
ites containing an open hole and subjected to compressive
loadings. 1. Analysis. J Compos Mater 1991;25(1):243.
35. Camanho PP, Matthews FL. A progressive damage model for
mechanically fastened joints in composite laminates. J Compos
Mater 1999;33(24):224880.
36. ASTM International. D5766/D5766M-02a Standard test method
for open hole tensile strength of polymermatrix composite lami-
nates. 2007.
37. ASTM International. D6484/D6484M-04 Standard test method for
open-hole compressive strength of polymermatrix composite lam-
inates. 2004.
38. Wu HC, Mu B. On stress concentrations for isotropic/orthotropic
plates and cylinders with a circular hole. Compos Part B-Eng
2003;34(2):12734.
39. Hibbit, Karlssonand Sorensen Inc. ABAQUS/Standard version
6.11, users manual. 2011.
40. Huang ZM. Inelastic and failure analysis of laminate structures by
ABAQUS incorporated with a general constitutive relationship. J
Reinf Plast Comp 2007;26(11):113581.
41. Ekh J, Schon J, Melin LG. Secondary bending in multi fastener,
composite-to-aluminium single shear lap joints. Compos Part B-
Eng 2005;36(3):195208.
42. Vieille B, Aucher J, Taleb L. Overstress accommodation in
notched woven-ply thermoplastic laminates at high-temperature:
numerical modeling and validation by digital image correlation.
Compos Part B-Eng 2013;45(1):290302.