Mechanics of Instability-Related Delamination Growth

Abstract

Local buckling of a delaminated group of plies can lead to high interlaminar stresses and delamination growth. The mechanics of instability-related delamination growth (IRDG) had been described previously for the through-width delamination. This paper uses the results of finite-element analyses to gain insight into the mechanics of IRDG for the embedded delamination subjected to either uniaxial or axisymmetric loads. This insight is used to explain the dramatic differences in strain energy release rates observed for the through-width delamination, the axisymmetrically loaded embedded delamination, and the uniaxially loaded embedded delamination.