An engineering solution for mesh size effects in the simulation of delamination using cohesive zone models

A methodology to determine the constitutive parameters for the simulation of progressive delamination is proposed. The procedure accounts for the size of a cohesive finite element and the length of the cohesive zone to ensure the correct dissipation of energy. In addition, a closed-form expression for estimating the minimum penalty stiffness necessary for the constitutive equation of a cohesive finite element is presented. It is shown that the...