Mechanical behavior of glass/epoxy tubes under combined static loading. Part II: Validation of FEA progressive damage model

Experimental results from a series of biaxial static tests of E-Glass/Epoxy tubular specimens [±45]2, were compared successfully with numerical predictions from thick shell FE calculations. Stress analysis was performed in a progressive damage sense consisting of layer piece-wise linear elastic behavior, simulating lamina anisotropic non-linear constitutive equations, failure mode-dependent criteria and property degradation strategies. The effect of accurate modeling of non-linear shear stress–strain response, dependent on the plane stress field developed, was proved of great importance for the numerical FEA predictions, concerning macroscopic stress–strain response. Ultimate load prediction was influenced more decisively when degradation strategies for the compressive strength along the fiber direction were considered.