Modified mode I fracture toughness calculation method for composite laminate with large scale fiber bridging

Experimental investigation and theoretical analysis have been carried out in this study to assess the application limitation of the current ASTM D5528 method for Mode I fracture toughness calculation of composite laminate with fiber bridging. It is revealed that additional toughening effect introduced by the fiber bridging is not fully considered in the current method and consequently there are uncertainties associated with the fracture toughness calculated by the current ASTM method. Based on the same principle used in the development of the original ASTM method, a modified method is proposed to extend the applicability of the current method. The modified method is verified with mechanisms based cohesive zone modelling and numerical simulations of the Mode I delamination double cantilever beam tests. The significant improvement of the prediction results compared with experimental results by the modified method over the current method demonstrated its applicability for Mode I delamination fracture toughness calculation of composite laminates with large scale fiber bridging.