A High-Fidelity Numerical Study of Trans-Laminar Fracture in Carbon/Epoxy Laminates Under Varying Environmental Conditions

This paper focuses on trans-laminar fracture process under varying environmental conditions which is crucial for the design and certification of many modern engineering applications. High-fidelity Finite Element (FE) models are developed for predicting trans-laminar fracture of a quasi-isotropic carbon/epoxy laminate under room temperature dry, and for the first time hot temperature wet conditions. Such FE modelling of ASTM E1922 specimens has not been done before. The FE models in ABAQUS Explic