Motivation and Key Issues
• The matrix-compression material-model used in Abaqus for carbon fiber laminates is computationally efficient but is physically unrealistic and does not correspond to actual material behavior.
Objective
• Determine the conditions under which the use of this unrealistic material model causes significant errors in predictions of carbon fiber
laminate response to load and load-carrying ability.
Approach
• Conduct experimentation to determine a physically-correct matrix-compression material model
• Implement this material model in Abaqus and compare its predictions with those of the currently-used material model