Giulio Alfano

TL;DR: In this paper, a finite element analysis of delamination in laminated composites is addressed using interface elements and an interface damage law, where the principles of linear elastic fracture mechanics are indirectly used by equating the area underneath the traction/relative displacement curve to the critical energy release rate of the mode under examination.

TL;DR: In this article, the influence of the shape of the interface law on debonding problems via cohesive zone models is addressed, and four different laws have been considered whose shapes are bilinear, linear-parabolic, exponential and trapezoidal, respectively, with a view to having the same values of the initial stiffness, of the maximum traction and of the associated fracture energy.

TL;DR: In this article, a new method to combine interface damage and friction in a cohesive-zone model is proposed, where the main idea consists of assuming that friction occurs only on the fully damaged part and gradual increase of the friction effect is then a natural outcome of the gradual increase in interface damage from the initial undamaged state to the complete decohesion.

TL;DR: A new ‘double-line-search’ method is developed, which significantly improves the solution procedure and turns out to be efficient and robust.

TL;DR: In this article, a simple corotational formulation applied to one-dimensional interface elements which embed a fracturing procedure for mixed-mode delaminations is described, which can be applied to situations involving a combination of buckling and delamination.