element deletion

[andrearrd]

hello everyone, I would greatly appreciate if you could help me on this. I am currently modelling skin -stiffener configurations which undergo debonding. The way im doing this is by creating a layer of cohesive elements between the skin and stiffener parts. these are of composite material, and hence defined with solid sections with the composite option (3d solid elements). Now, initial models work fine, with the elements damaging progressivley until eventually they are completely debonded. The problem is however, that after this debonding it can happen that the two parts come in contact, and in this case they jsut penetrate each other. I have read and re-read the user guide relating to cohesive elements but still cannot get round this problem. I have tried with and without element deletion, since i dont see why there should be interpenetration even if the cohesive elements are still in the model after degradation. Thanks for your help,
andrea