STRAIN-ENERGY RELEASE RATE OF DELAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES USING CONTINUOUS ANALYSIS

A continuous analysis procedure is introduced for determining the stra in-energy release rate for composite plates containing arbitrarily loc ated delamination regions of arbitrary shapes. The plates are consider ed to be simply supported along their four edges, and double Fourier s eries solutions are used. A simpler case for a symmetrically loaded do uble identical plate system having mid-plane delamination resulting in mode I deformation is studied first, and the general case involving t he determination of all three modes of the strain-energy release rate for a system of two orthotropic plates bonded by a layer of adhesive i s considered subsequently. Some numerical results are presented for il lustrative purposes.