The fatigue damage mechanics of a carbon fibre composite laminate: II—life prediction

Abstract The equations of fatigue damage mechanics for a carbon fibre composite laminate, developed in Part I of this paper, are applied to life prediction under constant and varying stress amplitudes. The S-N curves predicted for constant stress amplitude at various mean stresses are in good agreement with experiments. Life prediction for various block and random loadings are less satisfactory: there is an acceleration in damage growth caused by load-block interaction which is not, at present, well modelled, but can be included empirically. However, the predictions are far better than those of Miner's Rule, which is seriously non-conservative.