Abstract: A three-dimensional progressive damage model was developed for predicting the damage accumulation ofbolted double-lap joint s in fibre-reinforced plastics under in-plane tensile loading. The model is capable of simulatingthe four damage mechanisms and the correlation among them that are fibre breakage, fibre-mat rix shearing, mat rixcracking and delamination, which is also capable of assessing the ultimate tensile st rength of the joint s and of simulating the whole process of failure initiation, propagation and catast rophic failure of the st ructure. The paramet ricmethod was also used for bolted joint s in laminated composites with arbit rary lay-ups and geomet ries. Nine differentjoint s were used to predict the ultimate st rength of the joint s and analyze damage progression. An excellent agreement was found between the analytical predictions and the experimental data of the document .