Abstract
The post-buckling behaviour of delaminated composite plates has been studied. Static experimental tests were carried out on flat plates consisting of 16 layers of HTA-913C graphite/epoxy material. These plates incorporate either full-width or circular artificial delaminations at various depths. The finite element code ABAQUS is used to provide a comparison with experimental static test results including the effect of imperfection in specimen geometry. The static tests and ABAQUS results confirm that two types of buckling mode can occur, referred to as thin-film buckling, and overall buckling. For thin film buckling, the lower (thick) sub-laminate ultimately deforms in the opposite direction to the upper (thin) sub-laminate, producing opening of the delamination. Overall buckling is characterised by both sub-laminates buckling in the same direction with no opening of the delamination. The transition from thin-film to overall modes occurs when the delamination is at a critical depth in the laminate. An attempt has been made to relate the buckling behaviour to the fatigue limit (threshold strain) for the plates. For thin film specimens, propagation of the delamination does not occur within 10 6 cycles when the maximum applied strain is below the strain that causes opening of the delamination.
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