Bending behavior of needle-punched carbon/carbon composites: Efficient computation model

Needle-punched carbon/carbon composites (NP C/Cs) are advanced materials widely used in aerospace applications. The needle-punching technique improves the structural integrality of carbon-fiber plies; however, it also introduces many defects affecting the mechanical behavior of NP C/Cs. To investigate the behavior of needle-punched carbon/carbon composites under bending loads, a circular-arc beam element with a needle-hole defect is developed to model the punched carbon fibers and an extended spring element is suggested to model the matrix. This model allows quick predictions of the bending modulus, strength and progressive damage of NP C/Cs. It is shown that efficient numerical predictions agree well with the experimental results, thus validating the proposed method.