Fariba Hassanzadeh Tavakoli - Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Bojnord Branch, Islamic Azad University,Bojnord, Iran
Mohammad Rezaiee-Pajand - Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

Existence of a crack in structures would lead to a sudden failure and damage. Establishing a precise analytical model for the cracked element would be a powerful tool to achieve the right answers in the analysis of the structure. The main aim of this paper is to formulate a hexahedral element with embedded interface for using in the analysis of delaminated composite beams. In this investigation, the kinematics of the discontinuous displacement field along with the virtual work principle, for a body with an internal discontinuity, is utilized. Based on the suggested interpolation functions for the discrete segments, and also the element displacement field, the element stiffness matrix is calculated. The proposed element can be used for modeling of the discrete cracks in three-dimensional problems, such as a laminated composite beam. Numerical example is analyzed for the accuracy test. The results indicated that utilizing sufficient elements yields suitable answers.

Crack Analysis, Fracture mechanics, Embedded interface, Laminated composite beam