Numerical and experimental study of mode I delamination failure in composite laminates

Delamination is one of the most critical failure mechanisms in laminated composites. Usually it is assumed that delamination grows in a combination of modes I and II, but dominated by the mode I. In this work an experimental and numerical study of mode I delamination of laminated glass/epoxy [0/90] 8S manufactured by resin infusion has been carried out. The value of G(IC) has been obtained by the Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) test. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) has been used to measure the crack's length. The numerical simulation was performed using two numerical techniques: Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) and the Cohesive Zone Model (CZM). Both techniques predict the onset of delamination. The VCCT is simple to use but it needs to define the area where delamination is going to start. The CZM allows the determination of the initial delamination area but it requires defining correctly the properties of the cohesive element.