EXPERIMENTAL-VERIFICATION AND THEORETICAL SIMULATION OF FRACTURE BEHAVIORS OF COMPOSITE-MATERIALS

The paper presents an experimental and analytical study of composite laminates subjected to cyclic toads. Experimental results indicate that transverse crack formation jeopardizes the load carrying capability of the laminates by decreasing the elastic moduli of the material even though the number of transverse cracks seems to saturate at each load amplitude with the number of cycles. Experimental results are compared with theoretical predictions. A microscopic model has been developed to predict the micro-behaviour of the composite through the formation and coalescence of voids related to the stress concentration in the neighbourhood of fibres and to the stress singularity due to an edge macro-crack. In addition, a 3D FE analysis has been developed in order to evaluate the elastic stress fields within a multi-layer body which provides the actual boundary stresses for micro-damage analyses of the considered micro-element.