Progressive fatigue damage analysis method of laminated composites

A progressive fatigue damage analysis method was developed to predict damage propagation and life of laminated composites subjected to constant amplitude cyclic loading. It consists of stress analysis, fatigue damage analysis and material property degradation technique. Stress analysis of composite laminates was performed by creating a three-dimensional finite element model using the ANSYS FE code. Modified Hashin failure criterion was used to fatigue damage analysis. The rules of sudden degradation and gradual degradation were applied in material property degradation technique for modifying element stiffness and strength. Simulation results show that this progressive fatigue damage method is competent for simulating progressive damage and predicting fatigue life of laminated composites with arbitrary geometry and ply stacking sequence. A parametric progressive fatigue damage analysis programme was developed based on the ANSYS FE code. The error between the predicted results and the test data is within 10%.