Fatigue damage in carbon fibre reinforced aluminium alloy laminates

This research seeks to develop a unified model for fatigue crack and damage growth processes in a hybrid laminate. The progress of damage in a carbon fibre reinforced aluminium alloy laminate has been monitored, while simultaneously the strain within a defined area in the vicinity of the crack has been measured directly, by means of fibre optic sensors. Some preliminary finite element modelling results are presented. It is shown that the range of the stress intensity factor remains the most significant parameter for characterising fatigue crack growth. A stress intensity factor, modified to account for the changing compliance introduced by fibre-bridging and delamination, was found to be appropriate for these materials