A Novel Virtual Tow‐Embedded Modeling Strategy for CFRP Composite Laminates Reinforced With Thin‐Plies

ABSTRACT The damage resistance capabilities of thin‐ply composite laminates surpass those of traditional laminate. Modeling of composite laminates containing thin‐plies is difficult due to the ultra‐thin tow and multilayer structure. The objective of this work is to present a novel virtual tow‐embedded ( VTE ) simulation methodology tailored for thin‐ply carbon fiber‐reinforced polymer ( CFRP ) composite laminate systems. Virtual tow was modeled using shell elements, and the thin‐ply fabric was generated by assembling the virtual tows together according to the weaving pattern. A novel implementation of the VTE approach is achieved by embedding virtual tow insertions into voxel‐level matrix discretization. For damage prediction, the resin failure process follows the maximum strain criterion, and fiber damage propagation modeling follows the Hashin criterion, considering both tow tension/compression and matrix yielding effects. The effect of modeling parameters, including mesh densities of virtual tow and matrix material, on the calculation accuracy was analyzed. The tensile and shear loading responses of thin‐ply CFRP laminates were numerically investigated, with computational predictions demonstrating excellent correlation to experimental data for thin‐ply CFRP composite laminates' tensile strength (3% error) and shear strength (6% error). The advantage of this modeling strategy is that the thin‐ply fabric layers were explicitly modeled; therefore, the stress, strain, and damage distributions of the spread‐tows and matrix in each layer can be directly obtained.