Abstract: The delamination growth may occur in delaminated cylindrical shells under external pressure. This will lead to failure of structure. By using the variational principle of moving boundary and considering the contact effect between delamination regions, in this work, the delamination growth was investigated for cylindrical shells under the action of external pressure. At the same time, according to the Griffith criterion, the formulas of energy release rate along the delamination front were obtained. In the numerical calculation, the delamination growth of axisymmetrical laminated cylindrical shells was analyzed, and the effects of delamination sizes and depths, the geometrical parameters, the material properties, and the laminate stacking sequences on delamination growth were discussed.

Key words: composite, laminated cylindrical shell, external pressure, delamination growth, energy release rates, contact effect