The Contact Problem at Delamination

The important phenomenon of delamination buckling is examined subjected to the condition of frictionless contact. Buckled delamination is examined in particular, because in-plane compressive loading is typical and detrimental. Two types of contact can be distinguished, local and global. The latter may occur everywhere in the plate while the local contact is limited to the crack front (negative K_I stress intensity factors). Both local and global contact conditions were considered using a finite element scheme which employed nonlinear plate theory. The global contact problem is formulated as it appears in post-buckling of delamination. The case of simultaneous buckling and contact is also addressed in this paper. Two particularly interesting examples of thin film delaminations are presented. In the first, the contact at buckling is due to the material anisotropy. In this case the bucking load and the post-bucking analysis were very well supported by experiments. In the second example, contact at buckling arises because of a pin that holds down the delaminated layer at its center. The treated cases indicated that contact may significantly affect the fracture parameters along the delamination front, and is, therefore, important for delamination arrest.