Online Remaining Fatigue Life Prognosis for Composite Materials Based on Strain Data and Stochastic Modeling

The present study utilizes a state-of-the-art stochastic modeling with structural health monitoring (SHM) data derived from strain measurements, in order to assess the remaining useful life (RUL) online in composite materials under fatigue loading. Non-Homogenous Hidden Semi Markov model (NHHSMM) is a suitable candidate with a rich mathematical...

Understanding mixed-mode cyclic fatigue delamination growth in unidirectional composites: An experimental approach

Due to the lack of fundamental knowledge of the physics behind delamination growth, certification authorities currently require that composite structures in aircraft are designed such that any delamination will not grow. This usually leads to an overdesign of the structure, hampering weight reductions. In real structures, delaminations tend...

Fatigue crack growth in residual stress fields

The effect of temperature on fatigue crack growth in FM94 epoxy adhesive bonds investigated by means of energy dissipation

The effect of temperature on fatigue crack growth in epoxy adhesive bonds was investigated for a range of temperatures from -55 to 80[U+202F]°C. The fatigue crack growth behaviour was characterised using both strain energy release rate (SERR) and by measurements of energy dissipation. It was found that for a given maximum SERR, or a given...

Using acoustic emission to understand fatigue crack growth within a single load cycle

Current methods for prediction of fatigue crack growth are based on empirical correlations which do not take the crack growth behaviour within a single cycle into account. To improve these prediction methods, more understanding of the physical mechanisms of crack growth is required. In this research the acoustic emission technique was used to...

Towards a physics-based relationship for crack growth under different loading modes

In an attempt to understand quasi-static delamination growth under mixed mode loading conditions from a physics-based perspective, this work first evaluated cracking in isotropic materials. The critical Strain Energy Density (SED) approach is adopted, because physically the onset of crack growth is expected to occur when the energy available...

Mode I fatigue delamination growth with fibre bridging in multidirectional composite laminates

Fatigue delamination in multidirectional composite laminates was experimentally investigated in present study. Both the Paris relation and a modified Paris relation (with a new similitude parameter) were employed to interpret fatigue delamination with significant fibre bridging. The results clearly demonstrated that fatigue delamination was...

Structural health monitoring data fusion for in-situ life prognosis of composite structures

A novel framework to fuse structural health monitoring (SHM) data from different in-situ monitoring techniques is proposed aiming to develop a hyper-feature towards more effective prognostics. A state-of-the-art Non-Homogenous Hidden Semi Markov Model (NHHSMM) is utilized to model the damage accumulation of composite structures, subjected to...

Fatigue crack surface area and crack front length: New ways to look at fatigue crack growth

This paper discusses the appropriateness of crack length as a reference dimension for fatigue damage. Current discussion on short crack versus long crack data is still divided between various approaches to model small crack growth. A proper physical explanation of the probable cause of the apparent differences between short crack and long...

The stress ratio effect on plastic dissipation during fatigue crack growth

Plastic energy dissipation is inevitable during fatigue crack growth. There have been previous attempts reported in literature to correlate the plastic dissipated energy (dW/dN) to fatigue crack growth rate (da/dN). However, at a given dW/dN, the da/dN changes with the ratio of minimum and maximum loads, known as the stress ratio. This paper...

Co-cure joining of epoxy composites with rapidly UV-irradiated PEEK and PPS composites to achieve high structural integrity

Efficient joining of hybrid thermoset/thermoplastic composite joints is critical to produce high performance lightweight structures while keeping the cost low. Herein, a high-power UV-irradiation technique was proposed to rapidly active the surfaces of PEEK and PPS composites for the following co-cure joining with epoxy composites. A single...

The influence of interlayer/epoxy adhesion on the mode-I and mode-II fracture response of carbon fibre/epoxy composites interleaved with thermoplastic veils

The compatibility between the majority of thermoplastic veils (TPVs) and epoxies is typically poor, owing to the inherently low surface energies of thermoplastics. This tends to largely affect the toughening performance of TPVs as interlayer materials of carbon fibre/epoxy composites. The traditional methods for surface activation of...

On the physics of applying finite width and geometry correction factors in fatigue crack growth predictions of GLARE

In general, a finite width correction to stress intensity factor (SIF) is required in the fatigue crack growth. The finite width correction factor can be explained physically from the energy point of view. It is assumed that the finite width correction factor primarily constitutes an energy correction factor, i.e. it corrects the applied load...

Enhancing the fracture toughness of carbon fibre/epoxy composites by interleaving hybrid meltable/non-meltable thermoplastic veils

Interlaying thermoplastic veils into carbon fibre/epoxy composites has proved to significantly increase the interlaminar fracture toughness. The main toughening mechanism is thermoplastic fibre bridging for the non-meltable veils and matrix toughening for the meltable veils. Herein, to take advantage of different toughening mechanisms, hybrid...

Determining finite-width-correction factors for fatigue crack growth prediction in GLARE using the equivalent compliance method

Finite-width-correction factors (FWCF) are required for GLARE to accurately predict fatigue crack growth using linear elastic fracture mechanics. As demonstrated in earlier work, these factors effectively correct for the change in specimen compliance, which in GLARE relates to intact fibre layers and the formation of delaminations between...

Laminate and airplane provided with such a laminate