An efficient and versatile use of the VCCT for composites delamination growth under fatigue loadings in 3D numerical analysis: the Sequential Static Fatigue algorithm

Composite materials are susceptible to delamination when undergoing fatigue loads. Being able to accurately and efficiently predict the fatigue propagation of a delamination defect would increase the safety and the adoption of lightweight composites within industry. In this work, a new VCCT-based 3D fatigue propagation algorithm, called Sequential Static Fatigue (SSF), is presented. The algorithm is able to accurately simulate the fatigue propagation of delamination defects by performing several sequential static simulations. Compared to the benchmark (Abaqus direct cyclic algorithm), the SSF reduced the computational time of several cases by three orders of magnitude. A better accuracy was also achieved. This work thus sets the basis for a new drastically more efficient modelling technique for fatigue delamination propagation.