Fracture Analysis of a Special Cracked Lap Shear (CLS) Specimen with Utilization of Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) by Finite Element Methods

Abstract

Some of the most important characteristics due to a fracture investigation of a special specimen are taken into account. Debonding considerations for a composite/steel cracked lap shear (CLS) specimen by utilization of finite element methods (FEM) as well as a virtual crack closure technique (VCCT) approach have been investigated. Strain energy release rate, delamination load case and direct cycle fatigue analysis have taken into consideration in this study, and the corresponding simulations have been done by ABAQUS/Standard. Linear elastic fracture criteria are used for validation of numerical results from the simulation. For comparison of three different categories of analysis, some special characteristics such as effective energy release rate ratio, bond state, time at bond failure and opening behind crack tip at bond failure have been illustrated. In this work, a detailed analysis of a special CLS specimen debonding by using VCCT and FEM is presented and varied results for validation of this kind of combination are obtained and have been discussed.