Fatigue life prediction of carbon fibre reinforced laminates by using cycle-dependent classical laminate theory

In this work a study about the adaption of the classical laminate theory for fatigue loads is presented. Cycle dependent stiffnesses of single UD 0 degrees, UD 45 degrees and UD 90 degrees plies are implemented in order to calculate the fatigue-induced stiffness decrease of a multidirectional lay-up with the stacking sequence [0 degrees/+45 degrees/-45 degrees/90 degrees/90 degrees/-45 degrees/+45 degrees/0 degrees]. As second input alternative, UD 0 degrees, UD 90 degrees and +/- 45 degrees plies are used. The calculated cycle-dependent stiffness parameters are compared to experimentally measured fatigue data of the multidirectional lay-up. The experimental test procedure used for the measurement of cycle-dependent stiffness parameters has been published previously. Results show that the experimentally measured stiffness decreases of the multidirectional lay-up can be estimated accurately based on the cyclic unidirectional input parameters. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.