Delamination buckling and growth at global buckling

A computational and experimental investigation of buckling and growth of embedded delaminations located at different depths in a composite plate is presented with special emphasis given to the interaction between delamination buckling and global bending of the structure. Delamination growth for all cases occurred at, or slightly below, the global buckling load. The computational model captured qualitatively the observations from the tests with regard to loads for local buckling and crack growth, transverse deflections and shape of crack fronts and stability of growth. A more detailed assessment was difficult to perform due to the scatter in the experimental results.