Formulation and assessment of an enhanced finite element procedure for the analysis of delamination growth phenomena in composite structures

Abstract

To cite this version:Elisa Pietropaoli, Aniello Riccio. Formulation and assessment of an enhanced finite element procedure for the analysis of delamination growth phenomena in composite structures. Composites Science and Technology, Elsevier, 2011, 71 (6) This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.-1/35-

A numerical procedure for the simulation of skin–stringer debonding growth in stiffened composite panels

“…(3) F j is the force at crack tip, u j the opening displacement one element behind the crack and A the crack surface created by the crack opening. As demonstrated in [21,22,25] the results of the standard VCCT approach are, generally, highly dependent on the mesh at the delamination front and on the load step size. It is not possible to properly setting these parameters in VCCT based FEM models without comparison with experimental data.…”

“…The delamination growth predictions, obtained with numerical models developed based on the Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) and on the fail release approach [7,[11][12][13][14]23,24,33], have been demonstrated [9,10,21,22,25,26] to be highly dependent on the finite elements size at the delamination front and on the load step size; these analysis parameters can be correctly set in VCCT based models only with the aid of ad-hoc experimental data. Although in literature [15,19] exist procedures based on VCCT able to avoid comparison with experimental results, these procedures require a major programming effort, while the technique proposed in this work use only the standard capabilities of the commercial FEM codes.…”

“…Furthermore the lack of robust numerical tools able to predict the onset and the evolution of such failure mechanisms leads to over-conservative designs, not fully realizing the promised economic benefits of composite materials. This is the main reason why the mechanical behavior of composite structure with inter-laminar damages has been widely investigated in literature both experimentally and numerically [7,[9][10][11][12][13][14][21][22][23][24][25]33]. * Corresponding author.…”

Progressive Failure Analysis of Composite Structures Using a Constitutive Material Model (USERMAT) Developed and Implemented in ANSYS ©

“…Indeed, the usermat defined in Section 3 has been used for intralaminar damage whereas a procedure based on Fig. 9 Geometry and material properties of the stiffened panel [31] the combined use of the Virtual Crack Closure Technique and of a failure release approach has been adopted for simulating the delamination growth [30]. The geometry of the panel and the material properties as well as the stacking sequence for the components of the panel, are described in Fig.…”

Fracture Mechanics Analyses for Interface Crack Problems - A Review

“…In addition to increasing applications for the analysis composites [5][6][7], cracking has recently been investigated in conjunction with microelectronics [8][9][10][11], and piezoelectric bimaterials [12] as well as thin film interfaces [13]. Also, cracks that develop at the fiber-matrix interface in composites [14].…”