Isogeometric cohesive elements for two and three dimensional composite delamination analysis

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.