Thermoelastic delamination of composite laminates with weak interfaces

Thermoelastic response of composite laminates with weak interfaces is modelled. To simplify complicated thermoelastic description of weak interfaces, two basic hypotheses are made. The discontinuity of interfacial displacements is depicted by the interfacial constitutive relations between the interfacial displacement jumps and the interfacial transverse stresses. The discontinuity of interfacial temperature is depicted by a thin layer of thermal conduction between two weakly bonded layers. An experiential formula which accounts for the relation between the interfacial temperature jump and the interfacial normal opening is presented to determine interfacial temperature jump. These hypotheses result in linear mathematical formulation. As an application, the three-dimensional thermoelastic solutions of cross-ply rectangular laminates with weakly bonded layers are presented and may be used to test the accuracy of approximate lower-dimensional models of thermoelastic delamination in future studies. The effects of interfacial weak bonding on the thermoelastic response of laminates are discussed in numerical examples. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.