Theoretical and experimental study of fatigue strength of plain woven glass/epoxy composite

Abstract

In this paper an energy-based model for predicting fatigue life and evaluation of progressive damage in composite materials is proposed. The damage model is based on the concepts of continuum damage mechanics. The applicability of the proposed energy model was studied in fatigue experiments on 10-layer composite laminates made of glass fabric impregnated with epoxy-phenolic resin. Experimental results were processed by the method of least squares to determine the unknown parameters of the model. Theoretical fatigue strength curves are in good agreement with experimental data. © 2012 Journal of Mechanical Engineering.