Numerical study on the toughening effect of the fiber bridging on delaminated composite stiffened panel

In this paper, the debonding behavior of a fiber reinforced composite panel, under flexural loading conditions, is numerically studied. Two material systems, respectively insensitive and sensitive to the fiber bridging phenomenon, are considered. The toughening effect of the fiber bridging phenomenon, on the debonding propagation, is analyzed. An innovative numerical procedure, able to consider G(Ic) variations with the crack length, is proposed. The results of numerical models are compared to evaluate the fiber bridging sensitivity effects on the maximum attained load and on the delaminated area. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.