Abstract
SUMMARY A study of delamination crack growth due to bending in cross-ply laminates is presented. For the understanding of interlaminar fracture behaviour of laminated composites the modelling of delamination crack growth induced by bending and shear cracks in three point bending specimens is carried out. A plane strain two-dimensional (2-D) finite element analysis is used to determine the strain energy release rates during delamination of the laminated beam. Contact elements were used to prevent the material interpenetration on the crack surfaces. The solution of the contact problem taking into account friction along crack surfaces is obtained. Energy release rates GI and GII for Mode I and Mode II fracture are calculated by virtual crack closure integral (VCCI) methods. Comparison of total energy release rates, obtained by local energy methods, with an analytical solution based on the beam theory and a global energy method have been carried out. Good agreement of the results obtained by various methods have been observed. Comparison of the results obtained by the solution of the contact problem and without contact elements have been performed. Significant differences between the values of energy release rates obtained with and without using contact elements have been observed. The influence of the coefficient of friction on the energy release rates is insignificant.
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