An efficient parallel procedure for the simulation of free edge delamination in composite materials

This paper presents a solution procedure for three-dimensional (3D) simulat ions of delamination phenomena in composite materials. The procedure is bas ed on a constrained Newton-Raphson method and uses an iterative algorithm t o solve the linearised systems of equations. We will show that this procedu re can be used effectively for simulating the free edge delamination of a 3 D composite plate. We will also show that the procedure can be implemented efficiently on parallel computers. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All right s reserved.