Mechanical and thermal fatigue delamination of curved layered composites

The main aim is to present computational model of delamination of two-layer composite laminate subjected to the cyclic loads, both mechanical and thermal. Numerical fatigue delamination problem is solved by the linear elastic fracture mechanics theory applied together with the classical finite element method, which is done thanks to the commercial engineering analysis package ANSYS. As a result, fatigue delamination growth is predicted for the boron/ epoxy-aluminium composite under cyclic compressive shear and periodic temperature changes by the numerical approximation of the curves representing stress and temperature variations versus fatigue cycle number. Computational implementation of the Monte-Carlo simulation technique in the recent versions of this program will enable in the nearest future probabilistic approach to fatigue processes in some random composites. (C) 2003 Civil-Comp Ltd. and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.