Compressive failure of woven fabric reinforced thermoplastic composites with an open-hole: An experimental and numerical study

This research presents a detailed experimental and numerical study on the compressive failure of woven fabric reinforced thermoplastic composites, with an open-hole and with a pinned open-hole. The experimental evaluations are performed on the composite specimens using the Combined Loading Compression (CLC) evaluation method. Experimental results, including load response and damage morphology, are obtained and analysed. A novel meso-scale damage model is developed, based on Continuum-Damage-Mechanics (CDM), for predicting damage in woven fabric reinforced composites. The developed model, which can capture fibre fracture and matrix cracking, as well as the nonlinear response within the woven composite materials, is employed to conduct virtual Combined Loading Compression (CLC) tests. Numerical simulation results are compared with the extracted experimental results for model validation. Good correlation is achieved between experimental and computational results for both the open-hole and the pinned open-hole, with a two-stage failure process being observed for the pinned open-hole.