Separation of Crack Extension Modes in Composite Delamination Problems

摘要

In the analysis of composite delamination problems, the magnitudes of Mode I and Mode II stress intensity factors of energy release rates are typically not unique, due to oscillatory behavior of near-tip stresses and displancement. This behavior currently limits the ability to consistently apply interfacial fracture mechanics to predict composite delamination. The virtual crack closure technique (VCCT) is a method used to extract Mode I and Mode II components of energy release rates from finite element fracture models. Energy release rate composents extracted from an oscillatory delamination model using the VCCT are dependent on the virtual crack extension length triangle open.