[Back]

G. Wimmer, C. Schuecker, H. E. Pettermann:
"Numerical Simulation of Delamination Onset and Growth in Laminated Composites";
The e-Journal of Nondestructive Testing, 11 (2006), 12; 10 pages.

Delamination in fiber reinforced laminated composite structures is analyzed. The numerical
simulation of delamination is divided into creation of a starting delamination and delamination
growth. The starting delamination is predicted by a stress based failure criterion developed by
Puck. Growth of the starting delamination is modeled by the Virtual Crack Closure Technique.
A curved laminate is analyzed to demonstrate the proposed simulation procedure. A linear
finite element analysis is performed to predict the starting delamination, whereas non-linear
analysis are required for the simulation of delamination growth. The effect of the size of the
starting delamination is studied and a critical size is found. From the simulations of the growth
of various starting delaminations the maximum bearable load of the structure is predicted.
Moreover, structures containing initial delaminations were analyzed, yielding conditions for
crack growth stability. For the verification of the proposed simulation procedure, cohesive
zone elements are used and the same results are achieved. However, the proposed simulation
procedure is computationally markedly cheaper than the use of cohesive zone elements.

http://aleph.ub.tuwien.ac.at/F?base=tuw01&func=find-c&ccl_term=AC06587320

http://www.ndt.net/article/cdcm2006/papers/wimmer.pdf

Project Head Heinz E. Pettermann:
Simulation von Verbundwerkstoffen und Strukturen