The light weight and high specific strength of composite material helps design vebicles with, higher fuel efficiency and longevity. In order to understand the influence of design parameters related to the use of composite materials in these applications, a proper study of the laminated composite structures requires a complete failure analysis, which includes both initiation and propagation of damage, In this work a progressive failure methodology is developed and implemented in the commercial Finite Element software package, Abaqus. Out of the numerous failure criteria available in the literatme to study damage initiation and propagation in ‘unidirectional fiber reinforced composites, Puck and Schiirmann’s failure criteria have been chosen due to their ability to predict results close to those observed experimentally. Key features of the Puck and Schitrmann’s failure criteria for three-dimensional deformations of unidirectional fiber reinforced composites have been summarized. Failure modes in the matrix and the fiber are considered separately. The failure criteria are simplified for plane stress deformations, Whereas the failure plane can be analytically identified for plane stress deformations, a numerical search algorithm is needed for three-dimensional problems. Subsequent to the initiation of matrix failure, elastic moduli are degraded and values of these degradation parameters and fracture plane