Numerical simulation of delamination growth in curved interfaces Original Research Article

This paper describes a numerical method to simulate delamination growth in layered composite structures within the framework of fracture mechanics in large displacement. It is based on the search for the stationary points of the total energy of the structure, defined as the sum of the mechanical energy and the fracture energy associated with the delamination growth. The resulting non-linear problem is solved by Newtonʹs method. The expressions for the first and second derivatives of energy with respect to a crack front displacement are derived analytically. Numerical examples are presented for specimens loaded in mode I and show the influence of the geometrical parameters on the growth.