A consistent geometrically non-linear approach for delamination

• Published in: International journal for numerical methods in engineering Vol. 54; no. 9; pp. 1333 - 1355
• Main Authors: Wells, G. N., de Borst, R., Sluys, L. J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 30-07-2002
• Subjects: delamination; interfaces; laminated composites; partition of unity
• ISSN: 0029-5981; 1097-0207
• DOI: 10.1002/nme.462

A new model is presented for the simulation of delamination in laminated composite materials. A key feature is that the material structure and the finite element mesh are uncoupled. The displacement discontinuities that arise during the delamination process are described mathematically using discontinuous functions. This leads naturally to a set of coupled equations for the continuous and the discontinuous parts of the response. Discontinuities can pass through solid finite elements arbitrarily, with the displacement jump continuous across element boundaries. The performance of the model is demonstrated for several problems of delamination and geometric instability. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.