On the ability of the notch fracture mechanics in predicting the last-ply-failure of blunt V-notched laminated composite specimens: A hard problem can be easily solved by conventional methods

Fracture evaluation of V-notched laminated glass/epoxy composite specimens is performed under mode I loading conditions experimentally and theoretically. Rectangular laminates with different numbers of ply and lay-up configurations containing central rhombic holes are utilized for conducting fracture tests. The V-notched laminated composite samples are loaded under tension and their last-ply-failure (LPF) loads are measured. The novel Virtual Isotropic Material Concept (VIMC) is proposed and utilized to predict the experimental results. For this aim, the maximum tangential stress (MTS) and the mean stress (MS) criteria, which both are based on the linear elastic notch fracture mechanics (LENFM), are combined with VIMC. It is shown that both VIMC-MTS and VIMC-MS criteria can predict the LPF loads well. Thanks to VIMC, it is possible to simply predict the LPF loads of round-tip V-notched laminated composites with orthotropic behavior without performing the layer-by-layer analysis, using the progressive damage models, and writing rather complex subroutines.