Delamination analysis of multilayered beams with non-linear stress relaxation behavior

Delamination of multilayered inhomogeneous beam that exhibits non-linear relaxation behavior is analyzed in the present paper. The layers are inhomogeneous in the thickness direction. The dealamination crack is located symmetrically with respect to the mid-span. The relaxation is treated by applying a non-linear stress-straintime constitutive relation. The material properties which are involved in the constitutive relation are distributed continuously along the thickness direction of the layer. The delamination is analyzed by applying the J-integral approach. A time-dependent solution to the J-integral that accounts for the non-linear relaxation behavior is derived. The delamination is studied also in terms of the time-dependent strain energy release rate. The balance of the energy is analyzed in order to obtain a non-linear time-dependent solution to the strain energy release rate. The fact that the strain energy release rate is identical with the J-integral value proves the correctness of the non-linear solutions derived in the present paper. The variation of the J-integral value with time due to the non-linear relaxation behavior is evaluated by applying the solution derived.