Experimental and Numerical Studies of the Open Hole Compression Strength of Molded‐Hole Laminates

ABSTRACT In this paper, open‐hole compression (OHC) tests were conducted on quasi‐isotropic (QI) laminates to compare the performance of drilled and molded holes. Concurrently, finite element analysis (FEA) models were established for both drilled and molded laminates based on the Hashin and Puck failure criteria, respectively, to characterize the stress field around the hole. The numerical results reveal that, under compressive loading, the maximum principal strain distribution around the molded hole exhibits considerably better alignment with the fiber direction than that in the drilled laminate. Furthermore, the OHC strength of QI specimens with molded holes was found to be more than 38% higher than that of their drilled‐hole counterparts. The Puck criterion, which accounts for the fracture angle, demonstrates higher prediction accuracy, and the proposed numerical model can assist engineering designers in making more accurate predictions of OHC strength.