Numerical and Experimental Evaluation of the Effects of Ply Thickness on Progressive Damage in CFRP Laminates

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of ply thickness on the progressive damage in thin-ply composite laminates experimentally and numerically. To investigate the influence of the ply thickness on the damage growth, loading and unloading tests were carried out on angle-ply and quasi-isotropic laminates with three different ply thicknesses. The damage evolution was evaluated quantitatively using continuum damage mechanics model....