A Lamb wave velocity degradation model for cross-ply laminates under fatigue loading

Abstract

Composite laminates suffer from fatigue damages under cyclic loads and one direct result is the stiffness degradation due to transverse matrix cracks in off-axis plies. Since the Lamb wave velocities are decided by the stiffness properties of materials, it is reasonable to use Lamb wave velocity to characterize the fatigue damages in composite laminates. For this to be achieved, an explicit solution for 0-frequency S0-mode and SH0-mode phase velocities are deduced in this work, based on which a velocity degradation model is further proposed using a shear-lag model approximation and Paris model. The proposed velocity degradation model was then used to characterize fatigue damages in cross-ply GFRP laminates ([0/903/0/903]S), where the experimental S0-mode phase velocity was obtained by a laser ultrasonic scanning system. The proposed damage model shows good correlation with experimental results. With the proposed velocity degradation model, it is possible for future work to be done to inspect and predict the residual fatigue life of composite laminates using Lamb wave velocities.