Application of the residual strength degradation model to carbon-epoxy composite

A residual strength degradation model for two orientations of fibers of carbon-epoxy composite is proposed. The model is constructed on the basis of an analysis of a gradual decrease in the residual strength of the composite and an increase in loading cycles. Two groups of specimens were subjected to tensile tests under static and dynamic loading. It was necessary to determine the relationship between static and dynamic properties of the composite to predict the residual strength for different numbers of loading cycles. On the basis of initial experimental results, the values of the parameters obtained by using the model were computed numerically. The statistical distributions of the corresponding ultimate strengths obtained by using the model were compared with the distributions of experimental results, and their good correlation is demonstrated.