A combined experimental/numerical study of the scaling effects on mode I delamination of GFRP

Bridging by intact fibers is an important toughening mechanism in composite materials. However, a direct experimental evaluation of its contribution is difficult to achieve and in the case of large scale bridging the thickness, h, may have an important influence on the energy release rate (ERR). In this work a semi-experimental method is adopted to quantify the effects of thickness to fracture of unidirectional glass fiber reinforced polymer...