Influence of curved delamination front on R-curve of DCB specimen

This work investigated the evolution of the non-uniform distribution of Mode-I strain energy release rate (SERR) along a straight pre-crack front of double cantilever beams (DCB), caused by the anticlastic deformation and the longitudinal free-edge effects. A modified DCB specimen with a curved pre-crack front was introduced in order to alleviate this problem and produce an uniform SERR distribution at the initiation and propagation stages. The...