A novel method for the determination of the interface strength with coarse meshes for laminated composite materials

Abstract

The presence of sufficient elements within the fracture process zone (FPZ) ahead of the crack tip is crucial for accurate analysis of composite delamination in using cohesive elements. However, it may lead to extremely high computational costs in the finite element analysis of large-scale structures. Using coarse meshes can reduce such costs, but accurately determining interface strength is important for improving the accuracy of the analysis. In this paper, a novel method is proposed which can determine a more suitable interface strength for the simulation of Mode I delamination than existing methods found in open literature. Meanwhile, the proposed method can predict FPZ length more accurately when coarse meshes are used. Furthermore, this study found that constant cohesive law is more suitable for simulating delamination in the use of coarse meshes than bi-linear cohesive law. Finally, for composite materials, this method can be applied to various structure thicknesses and material properties.