Formulation and assessment of an enhanced finite element procedure for the analysis of delamination growth phenomena in composite structures

An existing procedure based on the combined use of the Virtual Crack Closure Technique and of a fail release approach for the analysis of delamination growth phenomena in composite structures has been enhanced with a front-tracing algorithm and suitable expressions for the evaluation of the Strain Energy Release Rate when dealing with non-smoothed delamination fronts. The enhanced procedure has been implemented into a commercial finite element software by means of user subroutines and applied to the analysis of a composite stiffened panel with an embedded delamination under compressive load. The effectiveness and robustness of the enhanced procedure have been assessed by comparing literature experimental data and numerical results obtained by using different mesh densities in the damaged area (global/local approach).