Effect of supports subsidence on delamination of clamped columns

Abstract

The frequent use of columns as members of a variety of load-bearing engineering structures and facilities requires detailed analyses of different problems associated with strength, fracture and failure. The clamped column under consideration in this paper represents a tri-layered structure. The external layers are symmetric. The layers have viscoelastic behaviour. Besides, the layers are made by materials which exhibit continuous inhomogeneity along the column length. The aim of this paper is to analyze two delamination cracks between layers. The column is under support subsidence. The effect of the subsidence on delamination cracks is explored in detail. In this relation, a solution of the strain energy release rate that accounts for the support subsidence is derived. The solution also takes into account the continuous change of the material properties along the column length. This solution is checked-up against early published approaches for obtaining of the strain energy release rate. Additionally, the study examines how the length of the delamination cracks influences the strain energy release rate. A parametric study is carried-out to explore the effects of the material inhomogeneity and other parameters on the delaminations in the column under support subsidence.