A Micro–macro Damage Mechanics-based Model for Fatigue Damage and Life Prediction of Fiber-reinforced Composite Laminates

Abstract A multidirectional damage model was proposed to predict fatigue damage evolution and final failure of composite laminates in this paper. A damage characterization model for composite laminates was established to characterize the influence of three main damage modes on the damaged mechanical behavior of composite laminates at micro–macro level. The damage evolution model was also established based on damage mechanics to predict the evolution of the three damage modes and stiffness degradation of composite laminates by means of damage characterization model. Then, a relationship between residual stiffness and residual strength was introduced, from which the residual strength could be obtained according to the predicted residual stiffness. When the residual strength is calculated to decrease to the maximum applied stress of fatigue loading after several cycles, the composite laminate was assumed to fail, and accordingly the fatigue life could be obtained. In order to verify the model, the predicted stiffness degradation and fatigue life of two cross-ply laminates under fatigue loadings with different stress levels were compared to experimental results. The standard derivation of stiffness degradation and average errors of fatigue between prediction results and experimental results were less than 0.1 and 8.26%, respectively, indicating the effectiveness and reliability of proposed model.