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The fastener pull-through resistance is a key performance index of composite laminates used for engineering application, and increasing research attention is being paid to developing methods for its calculation or estimation. The currently available research methods mainly focus on the standard test and the finite element analysis for determining the pull-through resistance of composite laminates suffering transverse load by the fasteners. Based on the results of the fastener pull-through resistance experiment performed on X850 composite laminates, a model for estimating the maximum affordable load of composite laminates for the fastener pull-through resistance is proposed, using generalized regression neural network technology. The inputs of this model are simplified to six parameters: the proportion of the ±45° layer of the laminates, the number of the layers, the thickness of the laminates, the bolt head shape, whether the bolt has a washer or not, and the nominal diameter of the bolt; the Gauss function is used as the hidden layer function. The model uses a large portion of the experimental data to train for finding the optimal smoothness factor, which is used to reconstruct the model, and simulation is performed with the remainder of the experimental data. The comparison between the estimated results using the model and the experimental results shows that the generalization ability of the proposed model can meet the estimation requirements. Moreover, the pull-through resistance of composite laminates under transverse load from a fastener can be estimated with high accuracy after some standard fastener pull-through resistance tests of the composite laminates.

A new method to determine the compression after impact (CAI) strength of composite laminates was presented. In this method, an impact damage zone was modeled as an equivalent hole. The most outstanding characteristic of the method was that the simplification of the impact damage was based on the compressive failure mechanisms of impacted laminates. Such a simplification has not been discussed in the literature before. A technique was established for determining the shape and size of the equivalent hole. To the authors’ knowledge, it is the first practical method for simplifying the impact damage as a hole, and also the present work was the first attempt to predict the CAI strength by modeling the impact damage as a hole. The stress distribution around damage was calculated using the complex potential method and the classical lamination theory. A lay-up independent failure criterion was used to predict CAI strength. The predictions of the present approach were compared to test results and found to be in very good agreement over a wide variety of materials. The study indicated that the width of damage zone was a key factor governing CAI strength. The influence of damage area, impact energy, impactor shape and dimension, etc. on CAI strength can be essentially characterized by their effects on the damage width. The study provided a very simple and effective approach for CAI strength prediction compared with previous methods.