A study of transverse cracking in laminates by the Thick Level Set approach

•We present an analysis of transverse cracking in layered materials in tension.•We use a new level set based non-local damage modeling approach (Thick Level Set).•The TLS model is shown to be able to reproduce key features (e.g. crack saturation).

In this paper, we present an analysis of the transverse cracking and interface failure process induced in layered materials (such as composite laminates) subjected to tensile loading, with a new level set based non-local modeling approach for damage growth (TLS: Thick Level Set). In particular, a 2D finite element model is built to study damage in a cross-ply laminate. The study aims at evaluating the capacity of the TLS method to predict evolution of damage at the ply level, including initiation, propagation, merging of cracks or delamination. We show how this numerical model is able to reproduce key features such as crack spacing saturation and other experimental observations.