Fatigue Damage of Fiber Reinforced Composites: Simultaneous Growth of Interfacial Debonding and Matrix Annular Crack Surrounding Fiber.

ABSTRACT: By the secondary development of a commercial finite element package, the present study simulates the simultaneous growth of interfacial debonding and matrix annular crack surrounding fiber of fiber reinforced composites under tension-tension cyclic load. Energy release rates are utilized in the Paris law to avoid concerning the singularity of crack tips. With the combination of finite element method and difference approximation, the authors program the degradation model of coefficient of friction, debond criterion, propagation law and loop of load process, and then the relationships between the parameters (such as the crack length and debond length) and number of cyclic load are obtained and discussed. The numerical results show that interaction of growth of two cracks plays an important role in fatigue damage of fiber reinforced composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]