A finite element formulation for the simulation of propagating delaminations in layered composite structures

This paper presents a finite element method to simulate growing delaminatio ns in composite structures. The delamination process, using an inelastic ma terial law with softening, takes place within an interface layer having a s mall, but non-vanishing thickness. A stress criterion is used to detect the critical points. To prevent mesh-dependent solutions a regularization tech nique is applied. The artificial viscosity leads to corresponding stiffness matrices which guarantee stable equilibrium iterations. The essential mate rial parameter which describes the delamination process is the critical ene rgy release rate. The finite element calculations document the robustness a nd effectivity of the developed model. Extensive parameter studies are perf ormed to show the influence of the introduced geometrical and material quan tities. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.