Fracture analysis of local delaminations in laminated composites

Abstract

A shear deformation model was developed to analyze local delaminations growing from transverse cracks in 90 degree plies located around the mid plane of symmetric laminates. The predictions of the model agree reasonably with experimental data from T300/934 graphite epoxy laminates. The predicted behavior is such that, in combination with an edge delamination model, the critical loads can be predicted accurately in the range of n from .5 to 8