Residual capacities of uniaxially compressed, delaminated composite panels

The mechanical buckling and postbuckling behaviour of a delaminated panel under uniaxial compression is investigated using a semi-analytical geometrically nonlinear panel model. A Rayleigh-Ritz procedure based on trigonometric displacement functions is used in conjunction with minimum energy principles to ascertain the mechanical response of the panels. The model includes the effect of delamination propagation resulting from the buckling of the laminates utilizing a discrete cohesive zone model. With the model developed, a detailed assessment of the residual capacity of the panel is provided due to its capability of tracing the equilibrium paths far into the postbuckling range. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)