A new model based on finite fracture mechanics is proposed to predict the openhole tensile strength of composite laminates. Failure is predicted when both stressbased and energy-based criteria are satisfied. The material properties required by the model are the laminate unnotched strength and fracture toughness. No empirical adjusting parameters are required. Using experimental data obtained in quasiisotropic carbon-epoxy laminates it is concluded that the model predictions are very accurate, resulting in improvements over the traditional strength prediction methods. It also is shown that the proposed finite fracture mechanics model can be used

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The behaviour of undamaged and repaired CFRP sandwich beams loaded in four-point bending is described. Three repair configurations (one overlap and two scarf) were tested in tension and compression, and two repair systems (based upon either a relatively high and or low-temperature cure) were employed. It was found that the repair schemes tested recovered a very high fraction of the undamaged strength, although the ranking order of the configurations depended on the loading mode (i.e. tension or compression). The choice of the repair system did not have a major effect on the strength of the repaired CFRP beams.

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