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Computational Methods for Debonding in Composites

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96 A. Turon et al.<br />

4.7 Conclusions<br />

An <strong>in</strong>vestigation of the length of the cohesive zone <strong>in</strong> delam<strong>in</strong>ated composite materials<br />

was presented. It was shown that the length of the cohesive zone depends<br />

on the material properties, the geometry/size of the structure, and on the load<strong>in</strong>g<br />

mode. New expressions to estimate the length of the cohesive zone of f<strong>in</strong>ite-sized<br />

specimens under general load<strong>in</strong>g conditions were derived.<br />

The accuracy of the model was assessed by compar<strong>in</strong>g its predictions with<br />

numerical results obta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> simulations of test specimens loaded <strong>in</strong> pure mode I,<br />

pure mode II, and mixed-mode I and II. The numerical simulations were per<strong>for</strong>med<br />

us<strong>in</strong>g a cohesive zone model previously developed by the authors and<br />

implemented <strong>in</strong> ABAQUS as a user-written subrout<strong>in</strong>e. A good agreement between<br />

predictions and experiments was obta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>for</strong> all load<strong>in</strong>g situations and sizes of the<br />

test specimens.<br />

F<strong>in</strong>ally, the model presented was used to simulate delam<strong>in</strong>ation propagation<br />

<strong>in</strong> composites us<strong>in</strong>g coarse meshes. A methodology previously developed by the<br />

authors to simulate delam<strong>in</strong>ation us<strong>in</strong>g coarse meshes has been updated to be used<br />

under any general load<strong>in</strong>g situation and specimen geometry. The results obta<strong>in</strong>ed<br />

us<strong>in</strong>g this methodology yield converged solutions even <strong>for</strong> elements that are ten<br />

time larger than the nom<strong>in</strong>al length of the cohesive zone.<br />

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