Modeling the delamination failure under compressive loads in CFRP laminates based on digital image correlation analysis

Laminate composite materials such as CFRPs are highly susceptible to delamination, being one of the common failure modes in composite laminates. The combination of severe delamination with uniaxial compressive loads leads to the loss of stability and structure failure. In this study, the authors present an experimental and numerical analysis of this effect in laminates. A series of tests were carried out with four different specimens including delamination-free plates and plates with incipient delamination with different damage size and location. 3D Digital Imagen Correlation technique was applied to predict the buckling initiation and propagation and to validate the numerical models implemented, showing good agreement between the numerical and experimental results. Model material failure includes Hashin criterion and cohesive zone model (CZM) to predict delamination. Finally, numerical models have been used to predict the crack initiation and progression in the rest of samples.