Numerical simulation of failure prediction on composite laminates with various cutout shapes under uniaxial tension and compression / Nurdalilah Noordin

In the era of modern structures, composite laminates are widely used and have become progressively trending due to its tailorable of material properties. Nevertheless, due to the complex fibre-matrix interaction added by the existing cutouts, it is complicated to figure out the failure mechanism and deformation behaviour of composite laminates. In reality, the application of cutout shapes is found practical for many composite structures. Practically, the failure behaviour of composite laminates with and without cutouts involves a lot of data; therefore, it is crucial to be predicted thoroughly and accurately. Based on literature review, the studies on the failure prediction of various cutout shapes to the composite laminates are limited. This study aims to predict the failure behaviour of Graphite/Epoxy and Kevlar/Epoxy with various cutout shapes under uniaxial tension and compression due to the variations of fibre orientations. The two main stages of this study involved the prediction of laminate failure using finite element simulation software (ANSYS); and then the prediction of laminate failure using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) from the simulated data. Prior to that, mesh convergence analysis and numerical validation were carried out.