TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– In this work, the cohesive zone model (CZM) developed by some of the authors to simulate the propagation of fatigue defects in two dimensions is extended in order to simulate the propagation of defects in 3D. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach– The procedure has been implemented in the finite element (FE) solver (Abaqus) by programming the appropriate software-embedded subroutines. Part of the procedure is devoted to the calculation of the rate of energy release per unit, G, necessary to know the growth of the defect. Findings– The model was tested on different joint geometries, with different load conditions (pure mode I, mode II pure, mixed mode I/II) and the results of the analysis were compared with analytical solutions or virtual crack closure technique (VCCT). Originality/value– The possibility to simulate the growth of a crack without any re-meshing requirements and the relatively easy possibility to manipulate the constitutive law of the cohesive elements makes the CZM attractive also for the fatigue crack growth simulation. However, differently from VCCT, three-dimensional fatigue de-bonding/delamination with CZM is not yet state-of-art in FE softwares. VL - 5 IS - 3 SN - 1757-9864 DO - 10.1108/IJSI-02-2014-0008 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSI-02-2014-0008 AU - Pirondi A. AU - Giuliese G. AU - Moroni F. ED - Professor Mario Guagliano and Professor Spiros Pantelakis PY - 2014 Y1 - 2014/01/01 TI - Development of a cohesive zone model for three-dimensional simulation of joint de-bonding/delamination under mixed-mode I/II fatigue loading T2 - International Journal of Structural Integrity PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 171 EP - 186 Y2 - 2024/04/20 ER -