Failure detection of carbon fiber woven composite laminates using finite element method and acoustic emission

Carbonfiber woven composites are one of the most widely used materials in engineering. Composites failure has the characteristics of mixed damage modes and multiple damage patterns, which affect the service reliability of the structure and make the damage prediction a practical challenge. In this paper, an acoustic emission (AE) energy approach is established for damage energy prediction under three typical damage modes. A finite ele ment model is established using ABAQUS to simulate the damage process under quasi-static indentation (QSI) of the plain-woven carbon fiber composite laminates. This study analyzes the mechanical behavior impact of the woven composites and obtains the force-displacement curve to validate the finite element method (FEM). The power function relationship between the damage energy of AE and FEM is validated under matrix cracking, fiber breakage, and delamination damage mode. The result indicates that the finite element model yields a reli able prediction of the damage energy under different damage modes.