Abstract: Based on the failure theory of fracture surface, a numerical model for progressive damage analysis of composite laminates with holes was established. After the failure of the fiber, the stiffness of the damaged area was directly reduced to 0.01% of the original value. After inter-fiber failure, the material properties in the damaged zone were softened linearly based on energy release rate. The effect of shear non-linearity on failure analysis was also considered in the model. Subsequently, the tensile failure process of composite laminates with different diameters and layers was simulated, and verified by physical tests. The results show that the calculation error is less than 10%, and the predicted failure mode is consistent with the test. Finally, the effects of layers and structure size on the failure mode and strength of laminates with holes were discussed. Under the same aperture, the failure modes of laminates with different layers are similar. Under the same layers, when the ratio of hole diameter to width is constant, the tensile strength decreases rapidly as the hole diameter increases.

Key words: composite, laminates, ply, dimension, tensile strength, failure mode