Numerical and experimental research on progressive damage of composite stiffened panels during post-buckling analysis

Composite materials are extensively employed in aerospace and other engineering applications, and it is of tremendous practical importance to study the mechanical behaviours, such as damage accumulation and failure law of their material structures. In order to predict the load capacity and damage degradation of composite hat-stiffened panels under compressive load, numerical and experimental methods are employed to study four kinds of degradation models (sudden degradation model based on elastic constants, progressive degradation model based on elastic constants, constant degradation model based on CDM, linear degradation model based on CDM). Numerical simulations are conducted by using ABAQUS software. The estimated buckling and ultimate capacity agreed well with the data in experimental. The comparison shows that all four damage degradation models can predict the load-carrying capacity and damage range. Compared with the other models, the constant degradation model based on CDM has the highest accuracy. The results provide theoretical guidance for studying the mechanical properties of composite hat-stiffened panel under compressive load.