Delamination buckling of a laminated composite shell panel using cohesive zone modelling

Abstract

Laminated composite shell panels take part in several engineering structures. Due to their complex nature, failure modes in composites are highly dependent on the geometry, direction of loading and orientation of the fibers. However, the design of composite parts is still a delicate task because of these fiber failure modes, which includes matrix failure modes or other so-called interlaminar interface failure such as delamination, that corresponds to the separation of adjacent layers of the laminate as a consequence of the weakening of interface layer between them. In this work, impact-induced delamination represented as a circular single delamination is investigated, as it can reduce greatly the structural integrity without getting detected. Furthermore, attention is focused on its effect upon the post-buckling response and the compressive strength of a composite panel. The delamination buckling was modelled using the cohesive element technique under Abaqus software, in order to predict delamination growth and damage propagation while observing their effects on the critical buckling load.

Numerical and experimental investigation of quasi-static indentation response of PVC foam sandwich and GFRP laminated composites

“…Both methods analyze how damage develops using fracture mechanics, and stressbased criteria are commonly employed to identify when damage first appears. Recent years have seen a significant amount of study focused on these two separate techniques: cohesive zone modeling (CZM) and continuum damage mechanics (CDM) [20,21].…”