The effects of shear on delamination in layered materials

The effect of transverse shear on delamination in layered, isotropic, linear-elastic materials has been determined. In contrast to the effects of an axial load or a bending moment on the energy-release rate for delamination, the effects of shear depend on the details of the deformation in the crack-tip region. It therefore does not appear to be possible to deduce rigorous expressions for the shear component of the energy-release rate based on steady-state energy arguments or on any type of modified beam theory. The expressions for the shear component of the energy-release rate presented in this work have been obtained using finite-element approaches. By combining these results with earlier expressions for the bending-moment and axial-force components of the energy-release rates, the framework for analyzing delamination in this type of geometry has been extended to the completely general case of any arbitrary loading. The relationship between the effects of shear and other fracture phenomena such as crack-tip rotations, elastic foundations and cohesive zones are discussed in the final sections of this paper. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.