No abstract

is an open access repository that collects the work of Arts et Métiers ParisTech researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible. The phenomenon of residual strength in composite laminates after fatigue loading has been studied for decades but is generally expressed as a function of the number of cycles applied to the specimens. Phenomenological laws deduced from these tests are therefore loading dependent and identifying a valid model for any loading condition of a given laminate requires long fatigue testing campaigns. To overcome this difficulty, a testing procedure is proposed to express the residual tensile strength of a unidirectional ply in the fibre direction, as a function of its matrix damage. The resulting behaviour is then independent of the imposed loading and can be determined by only a few fatigue tests. Experimental results obtained on glass-epoxy non-crimp fabric laminates are presented and analysed.