Simulation of fatigue delamination growth in composite laminates under mode I loading

• An efficient method for modeling delamination under fatigue is proposed.
• The method is based on contact interaction of two layers modeled by shell elements.
• A method of the durability prediction using cohesive contact elements is developed.
• The algorithm gives an instrument for solving high-cycle fatigue problems.
• A coarse mesh is sufficient to obtain acceptable accuracy of results.

An effective approach based on a cohesive zone model is proposed to simulate the propagation of delamination in the laminated composite materials subjected to high-cycle fatigue and pure mode I loading. It was implemented in the finite element software ANSYS®. Shell elements connected by bonded contact with the cohesive material properties were used. The main advantage of this approach is the algorithm for introducing fatigue damages by applying additional displacements. A double cantilever beam test was analyzed to validate the proposed approach.