Delamination modelling of GLARE using the extended finite element method

In this paper, an application of the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) for simulation of delamination in fibre metal laminates is presented. The study consider a double cantilever beam made of fibre metal laminate in which crack opening in mode I and crack propagation were studied. Comparison with the solution by standard Finite Element Method (FEM) as well as with experimental tests is provided. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that XFEM is used in the fracture analysis of fibre metal laminates such as GLARE. The results indicated that XFEM could be a promising technique for the failure analysis of composite structures.