Modeling the Strength Degradation and Fatigue of Carbon Fiber Rein-forced Composites

Static and fatigue data available in literature concerning carbon fiber reinforced composite laminates subjected tension-tension fatigue were re-elaborated in the framework of a two-parameter fatigue model explicitly accounting for the cyclic as well as the mean stress. The data were used to obtain the model parameters by best fitting procedures. A primitive statistical implementation of the model was based on the hypothesis that the monotonic tensile strength follows a two-parameter Weibull distribution. The model has the potential of being predictive indicating that the fatigue character- ization of given laminate can be achieved with a minimum of experimental tests. The model reliability and its applicabil- ity limits are discussed.