A Shell/3D Modeling Technique for Delaminations in Composite Laminates

A shell/3D modeling technique was developed for which a local solid finite element model is used only in the immediate vicinity of the delamination front. The goal was to combine the accuracy of the full three-dimensional solution with the computational efficiency of a plate or shell finite element model. Multi-point constraints provide a kinematically compatible interface between the local 3D model and the global structural model which has been meshed with plate or shell finite elements. For simple double cantilever beam (DCB), end notched flexure (ENF), and single leg bending (SLB) specimens, mixed mode energy release rate distributions were computed across the width from nonlinear finite element analyses using the virtual crack closure technique. The analyses served to test the accuracy of the shell/3D technique for the pure mode I case (DCB), mode II case (ENF) and a mixed mode I/II case (SLB). Specimens with a unidirectional layup where the delamination is located between two 0 plies, as well as a multidirectional layup where the delamination is located between two non-zero degree plies, were simulated. For a local 3D model extending to a minimum of about three specimen thicknesses in front of and behind the delamination front, the results were in good agreement with mixed mode strain energy release rates obtained from computations where the entire specimen had been modeled with solid elements. For large built-up composite structures modeled with plate elements, the shell/3D modeling technique offers a great potential, since only a relatively small section in the vicinity of the delamination front needs to be modeled with solid elements.