Efficient modeling of postbuckling delamination growth in composite laminates using plate elements

Global buckling behaviour and local damage propagation in composite plates with embedded delaminations

“…Based on the approach of Klug et al [8], the whole laminate can be split into upper and lower sublaminates. The corresponding nodes of the upper and lower sublaminates in the areas that are assumed to be intact are connected by displacement equations that arise from Mindlin/Kirchhoff plate theory [18].…”

“…In areas of delamination Klug et al [8] employed GAP elements between the corresponding nodes of the upper and lower sublaminates to avoid the interpenetration. Interpenetration would neglect the behaviour of real laminates and thus, result in wrong estimations of the critical load and the average total strain energy release rate G. They used eight-noded shell element, designated S8R in ABAQUS, to model the laminated plate.…”

“…In contrast to the loading procedure employed by Klug et al [8], the initial deflection that is necessary to make the structure buckle was established by an imperfection to the original mesh. The applied imperfection rested on an eigenmode buckling analysis of the structure, Tafreshi, A.…”

“…The phenomenon of progressive failure in laminated composite structures is yet to be understood, and as a result, reliable strategies for designing optimal laminated composite structures for desired life and strength are not yet available [1] For the past two decades analytical and numerical analysis have been carried out by many researchers [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] to analyse delaminated composite structures, considering their buckling and post-buckling behaviour. The early work belongs to Chai et al [2] who characterized the delamination buckling models by the delamination thickness and number of delaminations through the laminate thickness.…”

“…In a study by Klug et al [8], Mindlin plate finite element was used to model the response of delaminated composite plates under in-plane compression. The crack closure method was used to calculate the strain energy release rate at the delamination front.…”