Dynamic crack propagation in wood fibre composites analysed by high speed photography and a dynamic phase field model

The experimental results are compared to numerical results, obtained using a dynamic phase field finite element model. Simulations correlate well with experiments with respect to the relation between energy release rate and crack tip velocity. For PLA, the simulations also predict branching correctly, but for wood fibre composites, the simulations slightly over-predict the amount of branching and point to a need for further development of fracture models in order to better capture the constitutive behaviour of these heterogeneous materials.