This paper focuses on the phenomenon of local material damage and progressive failure of fibre-reinforced composite materials induced by load exceeding the specimen's failure-free load-carrying capacity. It follows and extends the work published in [4, 5 and 6] where a FEA based numerical model is presented, allowing for the prediction and subsequent treatment, yet simple, of progressive material failure for the case of quasi-static loading. This treatment has been improved in this work, so the approach of applying material degradation now corresponds to the predicted failure type, which is done using the Puck's fibre and inter-fibre criterion for local failure [3]. This type of analysis is crucial when optimizing composite structures in cases when it is important to maximize the utility value at the lowest possible cost/weight, mainly in automotive, aerospace and naval industry.
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