Experimental assessment of carbon fiber jacketing of steel plates

It is presented a numerical assessment of experimental data concerning Mode–II delamination tests of steel plates jacketed with Carbon fiber textile sheets. In particular, an inverse identification procedure, based on finite element analysis, has been performed in order to estimate the constitutive parameters of the interface bonding steel and textile. Such a procedure proved to be capable of characterizing a constitutive model which reproduces with sufficient accuracy the peak load and the fracture triggering propagation of the bonding interface. The identified finite element model is accurate enough to be employed in force–based design or in structural analysis where a suitable displacement–ultimate limit state is considered. The contribution analyzes the physical interpretation of the Mode–II delamination process with particular focus on its representation by means of finite element models. In particular, a discussion about the delamination process will show the consistency of the finite element model with the physical behavior of the specimen observed during the experimental tests. Such considerations, although encouraging, introduced further issues which outlines future research directions in order to improve the identification strategy.