Non-smooth mode I fracture of fibre-reinforced composites: an experimental, numerical and analytical study

We present a novel approach to analyse the fracture of fibre-reinforced composites. Experimental results on mode I fracture of glass fibre and carbon fibre unidirectional laminates presented here and published by others in the open literature formed the basis for the analytical and numerical results presented. When details of the external loading rate are explicitly accounted for, a new picture of fracture emerges, which encompasses the possibility for non-smooth crack growth and the necessity to relax the use of a critical strain energy release rate as a criterion for crack advancement. Results predicted by adopting the analytical model presented here are seen to capture a wide variety of fracture responses that have been observed previously.