Verification of a micro-mechanical approach for the investigation of progressive damage in composite laminates

In this paper, micro-damage mechanics (MIDM) and macro-damage mechanics (MADM) are employed to study the progressive damage in composite laminates. Firstly, a novel method for progressive damage modeling of composite laminates is proposed based on MADM rules. In the MADM method, a new exponential behavior for the softening regime of damaged plies is proposed from comprehensive experimental tests on glass/epoxy composite laminates with a variety of the stacking sequence. Then, a MIDM model is employed to study the mechanical behavior of composite laminates with micro-cracks. The effective elastic moduli and Poisson’s ratio in damaged composite laminates containing a large number of micro-cracks are determined by utilizing variational methods. Finally, the proposed exponential behavior of damaged plies based on MADM rules is verified by utilizing a MIDM model. The resulting coincidence of MADM and MIDM proves that the proposed method can accurately simulate the behavior of damaged plies in glass/epoxy composite laminates.