Abstract: Carbon fiber composite laminated plate in-plane shearing process contained a large number of acoustic emission information. In order to study the laminates shearing failure mechanism,the acoustic emission testing and finite element simulation of the damage process were carried out. The results showed that the shearing damage form and damage evolution process of the carbon fiber composite laminates are related to the acoustic emission characteristic parameters (amplitude, energy, impact count). The damage process was experienced in the initial stage, the damage accumulation stage and the fracture failure stage. In the initial stage and the damage accumulation stage, the damage increased gradually, and the specimen had a certain bearing capacity, whereas in the stage of fracture failure, the bearing capacity decreased sharply with the delamination and fiber breakage. Affected by the 45 fiber layers, the delamination area was small, and the front of damage was uneven and randomly distributed.