Multi-Scale Study on the Mechanical Properties of Pultruded GFRP Laminates

This paper presents a method for multiscale damage prediction of pultruded fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites. The representative volume units (RVEs) method was created to predict the elastic properties of unidirectional yarns and fabrics. Subsequently, at the macroscopic scale, the results of the microscopic predictions were used as material parameters for the laminate. The intra-plate failures were reflected by writing a 3D Hashin VUMAT subroutine, and cohesive cells were created to reflect inter-layer failures. The proposed numerical model was verified by tensile and bending tests, and the mechanical response of the lay-up method to the pultruded FRP laminate was further investigated. The results of this study show that the numerical analysis method could accurately predict the mechanical properties of FRP and reveal the damage mechanism of FRP laminates. Also, it was clarified that for different load patterns, the different lay-up methods were a significant affect in the laminate design.