LAUSR

Recent improvements in pultrusion and filament winding have allowed the manufacturing of spirals and rings composite profiles for applications such as fuselage reinforcements of small aircrafts, automotive bumper beams, automotive springs and structural reinforcement for pipes. However, the behavior of curved carbon fiber components is complex and hard to predict, and still demands deeper understanding. In this work, progressive damage and cohesive zone numerical models were used to simulate the behavior of unidirectional curved composite structures under flexural loading. Four-point bending tests were carried out on curved samples monitored by strain gages for model validation. The results have demonstrated a strong influence of delamination on samples with well-defined resin-rich areas. In contrast, curved structures with more homogeneous fiber distribution, i.e. those manufactured by curved pultrusion, showed increased flexural strength. Maximum stresses from numerical and experimental analyses were compared and the maximum difference found was below 3.5%.