The effect of facesheet/core delamination in sandwich structures under transverse loading

The present work is concerned with the problem of a delamination crack alon g the facesheet/core interface of a sandwich structure which is submitted t o transverse loading. In contrast to a loading by compressive inplane force s or a bending loading the presumed transverse loading does not lead to buc kling of the delaminated facesheet but it may provoke further delamination crack growth. As a kind of crack driving force the energy release rate is s tudied for a virtual crack growth by means of Irwin's crack closure integra l within a finite element modelling. The resultant energy release rate is d ependent on various geometrical and material parameters which is investigat ed in some detail. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.