Isogeometric cohesive elements for two and three dimensional composite delamination analysis

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel isogeometric analysis framework using NURBS-based cohesive elements for simulating delamination in 2D and 3D composite structures, demonstrating improved performance over traditional methods.

Contribution

It is the first to apply NURBS-based isogeometric analysis to 2D and 3D delamination modeling, providing a complete computational framework and implementation in open-source software.

Findings

Outperforms conventional finite element methods in all tested examples.

Successfully models complex 3D delamination scenarios.

Demonstrates the effectiveness of NURBS-based cohesive elements in composite analysis.

Abstract

Isogeometric cohesive elements are presented for modeling two and three dimensional delaminated composite structures. We exploit the knot insertion algorithm offered by NURBS (Non Uniform Rational B-splines) to generate cohesive elements along delamination planes in an automatic fashion. A complete computational framework is presented including pre-processing, processing and post-processing. They are explained in details and implemented in MIGFEM--an open source Matlab Isogemetric Analysis code developed by the authors. The composite laminates are modeled using both NURBS solid and shell elements. Several two and three dimensional examples ranging from standard delamination tests (the mixed mode bending test), the L-shaped specimen with a fillet, three dimensional (3D) double cantilever beam and a 3D singly curved thick-walled laminate are provided. To the authors' knowledge, it is the first time that NURBS-based isogeometric analysis for two/three dimensional delamination modeling is presented. For all examples considered, the proposed framework outperforms conventional Lagrange finite elements.