Delamination Analysis of Orthotropic Laminated Plates Using Moving Nodal Modes

In this study, the delamination analysis has been implemented to investigate the initiation and propagation of crack in composite laminates composed of orthotropic materials. A simple modeling was achieved by moving nodal technique without re-meshing work when crack propagation occurred. This paper aims at achieving two specific objectives. The first is to suggest a very simple modeling scheme compared with those applied to conventional h-FEM based models. To verify the performance of the proposed model, analysis of double cantilever beams with composite materials was implemented and then the results were compared with reference values in literatures. The second one is to investigate the behavior of interior delamination problems using the proposed model. To complete these objectives, the full-discrete-layer model based on Lobatto shape functions was considered and energy release rates were calculated using three-dimensional VCCT(virtual crack closure technique) based on linear elastic fracture mechanics.