*Article* **Progressive Failure Simulation of Notched Tensile Specimen for Triaxially-Braided Composites**

**Zhenqiang Zhao 1,2,3 , Haoyuan Dang 1,2,3, Jun Xing 1,4, Xi Li 1,5, Chao Zhang 1,2,3,\*, Wieslaw K. Binienda <sup>6</sup> and Yulong Li 1,2,3**


Received: 15 February 2019; Accepted: 6 March 2019; Published: 12 March 2019

**Abstract:** The mechanical characterization of textile composites is a challenging task, due to their nonuniform deformation and complicated failure phenomena. This article introduces a three-dimensional mesoscale finite element model to investigate the progressive damage behavior of a notched single-layer triaxially-braided composite subjected to axial tension. The damage initiation and propagation in fiber bundles are simulated using three-dimensional failure criteria and damage evolution law. A traction–separation law has been applied to predict the interfacial damage of fiber bundles. The proposed model is correlated and validated by the experimentally measured full field strain distributions and effective strength of the notched specimen. The progressive damage behavior of the fiber bundles is studied by examining the damage and stress contours at different loading stages. Parametric numerical studies are conducted to explore the role of modeling parameters and geometric characteristics on the internal damage behavior and global measured properties of the notched specimen. Moreover, the correlations of damage behavior, global stress–strain response, and the efficiency of the notched specimen are discussed in detail. The results of this paper deliver a throughout understanding of the damage behavior of braided composites and can help the specimen design of textile composites.

**Keywords:** braided composites; mesoscale model; notched specimen; damage evolution
