This paper summarizes the implementation of a Virtual Testing methodology in an industrial environment to predict the mechanical behaviour of composite material through the different scales of the conventional physical testing pyramid. A robust Virtual Test Lab allows for the generation of virtual allowables, while advanced interface models ensure accurate simulation of critical interfaces up to structural level. Hybrid simulation-physical testing approaches, that can support both conventional rapid sizing and high-fidelity analysis methods, have been applied during the development of a thermoplastic orthogrid fuselage shell and will be coupled with the manufacturing process though a virtual process chain for the development of a thermoplastic fuselage for the next generation aircraft. @en

This paper presents the numerical analysis of a thermoplastic composite stiffened panel subjected to compression load. The panel has three stringers with a non-symmetric design, with an artificial crack at the middle stringer interface and is made from a fast crystallizing polyetherketoneketone carbon composite. The finite element model includes an approximation of the geometrical imperfections which were measured using a digital image correlation system. The finite element analyses are discussed, where the crack propagation is modelled using the virtual crack closure technique. The results show that crack propagation starts rather early after buckling and the crack growth behaviour is heavily influenced by the buckling shape, which consists of three half-waves in longitudinal direction in each bay.@en