A robust numerical approach for the simulation of skin–stringer debonding growth in stiffened composite panels under compression

In this paper, a numerical study on skin–stringer debonding growth in stiffened composite panels has been carried out. A novel numerical methodology is proposed here to investigate the compressive behaviour of a stiffened composite panel in the presence of skin–stringer partial separation. The novel numerical methodology, able to overcome the mesh size and time increment dependency of the standard Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT), is an...