Finite element analysis of composite T-joints used in wind turbine blades

This paper presents a finite element (FE) analysis of the fracture behaviour of composite T-joints with various fibre reinforcement architectures subjected to pull-out loading. The FE model accounts for the effect of interface strength and interlaminar fracture energy on the ultimate load to failure; a linear softening fracture based law is adopted to describe crack growth in the form of delamination. The numerical simulation shows that the...