Fatigue simulation for progressive damage in CFRP laminates using intra-laminar and inter-laminar fatigue damage models

Abstract

This study proposes a simulation method to evaluate fatigue progressive damage in composite laminates using intra-laminar and inter-laminar damage models. The intra-laminar and inter-laminar damages are modeled using continuum damage mechanics and cohesive zone model, respectively, and the evolution laws of damages are formulated. A simulation method combining finite element method and fatigue models are described in this paper. Fatigue simulations are conducted on a curved specimen and the results of that are compared with the experimental results. The comparison indicates that the proposed method can predict the stiffness degradation and the number of final failure cycles in good accuracy.