A solid‐like shell element allowing for arbitrary delaminations

In this contribution a new finite element is presented for the simulation of delamination growth in thin‐layered composite structures. The element is based on a solid‐like shell element: a volume element that can be used for very thin applications due to a higher‐order displacement field in the thickness direction. The delamination crack can occur at arbitrary locations and is incorporated in the element as a jump in the displacement field by using the partition of unity property of finite element shape functions. The kinematics of the element as well as the finite element formulation are described. The performance of the element is demonstrated by means of two examples. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.