Received: 4 March 2020 Revised: 23 June 2020 Accepted: 24 June 2020

DOI: 10.1111/ffe.13296

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION

Fatigue life prediction of woven composite laminates with

initial delamination

Aoshuang Wan1 | Junjiang Xiong1 | Yigeng Xu2

1
School of Transportation Science and
Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing,
Abstract
100191, China An engineering approach for fatigue life prediction of fibre-reinforced polymer
2
School of Aerospace, Transport and composite materials is highly desirable for industries due to the complexity in
Manufacturing, Cranfield University,
damage mechanisms and their interactions. This paper presents a fatigue-
Cranfield, MK43 0AL, UK
driven residual strength model considering the effect of initial delamination
Correspondence size and stress ratio. Static and constant amplitude fatigue tests of woven com-
Yigeng Xu, School of Aerospace,
Transport and Manufacturing, Cranfield
posite specimens with delamination diameters of 0, 4 and 6 mm were carried
University, Cranfield MK43 0AL, UK. out to determine the model parameters. Good agreement with experimental
Email: [email protected] results has been achieved when the modified residual strength model has been
Funding information applied for fatigue life prediction of the woven composite laminate with an ini-
National Natural Science Foundation of tial delamination diameter of 8 mm under constant amplitude load and block
China, Grant/Award Numbers:
fatigue load. It has been demonstrated that the residual strength degradation-
51375033, 51875021
based model can effectively reflect the load sequence effect on fatigue damage
and hence provide more accurate fatigue life prediction than the traditional
linear damage accumulation models.

KEYWORDS
delamination, fatigue life prediction, residual strength, woven composite laminate

1 | INTRODUCTION subsequent failure modes are affected by the delamina-

tion shape (across-the-width straight line front, circular
Woven composite laminates demonstrate good combined or peanut shaped),5 size,6,7 number2 and through-
shear strength and impact resistance and hence are thickness distribution.8 The laminate failure caused by
widely used in transport and renewable energy indus- the buckling and delamination under static compressive
tries.1 Lack of reinforcement in the thickness direction is load is also dependent on the length–width ratio of
however a major concern for laminated composite com- delamination.9 The composite laminates with low
ponents as it facilitates delamination under the influence length–width ratio delamination tends to kink, whereas
of manufacture imperfections, low velocity impacts2,3 high length–width ratio counterparts are prone to split
and embedded active sensors.4 Delamination poses a under compression.10 The fatigue behaviour of laminated
direct threat to the load-carrying capacity and residual composite structures is also influenced by the initial
service life of laminated composite components and is a delamination.11,12 Preexisting delamination has been
major failure mode attracting serious attention. It has linked to the change in failure mode during fatigue tests.
been reported that the compressive strength and It provides a prior path for layer separation, which then

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided
the original work is properly cited.
© 2020 The Authors. Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

2130 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ffe Fatigue Fract Eng Mater Struct. 2020;43:2130–2146.

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WAN ET AL. 2131

propagates and spreads the damage to other layers until prediction. Eskandari and Kim30,31 developed a new
the final failure.13 Lifshitz and Gildin14 however reported nonlinear fatigue damage model associated with the SN
that the preembedded delamination reduced the life of curve that can predict the fatigue life and residual
the specimen only when the delamination was located strength of composite materials. The fatigue lives of E-
within a critical distance to the outer surface of the speci- glass/epoxy composite material were predicted under a
men. Reis et al.15 found that artificial interlayer delami- sequence load of two stress levels with the model, show-
nation had negligible influence on the tensile fatigue ing good agreement with the experimental results.
strength but reduced the strength significantly under Guedes32 found that the Eskandari and Kim (E-K) model
fully reversed fatigue load. In addition, the voids at lami- was valid for life predictions of woven E-glass fibre com-
nar interface also have a detrimental effect on the fatigue posite material under ascending and descending spec-
life of composite laminates. The crack measurement and trum load but was invalid under fully random spectrum
fractographic analysis reveal that the effect of voids on load. The E-K model was further modified by imposing a
the failure mechanisms is different for tension–tension small decrease on model exponent when the peak stress
and compression–compression loading conditions.16 increases, which improved the agreement with experi-
Fatigue of composite materials involves complex mental results under different spectrum loads.
interactive damage mechanisms of matrix cracking, It is found from the literature review that limited
fibre/matrix debonding, delamination and fibre breakage. amount of research on fatigue performance of composite
It depends on many factors including lay-up configura- materials has been focusing on the influence of delamina-
tions, fibre volume fraction, curing parameters, interfa- tion on constant amplitude fatigue behaviour and life pre-
cial properties and loading and constraint conditions,17 diction of unidirectional composite laminates under
making it difficult to develop a satisfactory physical variable amplitude loading. The damage mechanisms of
fatigue damage model that can account for all these fac- woven ply laminates are extremely difficult to separate
tors and complicated interacting damage mechanisms for and investigate due to complex microstructures resulting
composite laminates. Instead, cumulative damage models from the interlacing and undulating fibre tows. Little
could provide practical and efficient quantification of the quantitative results can be found in literature for fatigue
fatigue damage accumulation in composites by relating life prediction of woven composite laminates, particularly
macromechanical properties of composite components to for the woven laminate with initial delamination and
the loading conditions. A significant body of investigation under spectrum loading. This paper aims at filling the
has been carried out to test the validity of Palmgren– gap by predicting the fatigue life of woven composite lam-
Miner rule using different damage accumulation metrics inates with initial delamination under constant and vari-
for composite materials under variable amplitude load- able amplitude loading using a modified residual strength
ing. It was found that the linear Palmgren–Miner model model based on the authors' previous research.33,34
does not work well for estimating accumulated damage
of composite materials. The modified nonlinear Miner
rules provided good life predictions for some composite 2 | DEVELOPMENT OF THE
components under spectrum loading18–20 but did not MODIFIED FATIGUE-DRIVEN
work well for others.21,22 Nevertheless, residual strength RESIDUAL STRENGTH MODEL
models seem to offer an effective engineering approach
for life prediction under variable amplitude fatigue loads 2.1 | Model modification to account for
by relating directly the applied fatigue stress to the resid- the effect of initial delamination size
ual strength of the composite components.23 It has been
proven that using residual strength as damage metric The change in residual strength of the woven composite
could lead to better life prediction compared with the laminates has been used as the fatigue damage variable
Palmgren–Miner damage rule.24–26 Post et al.27 pointed in the author's original residual strength model.33 The
out that even the simple linear residual strength rule following relation has been proposed to correlate the
(Broutman and Sahu model28) could gain in accuracy of number of fatigue cycles to the residual strength at a spe-
fatigue life prediction. Moreover, it was found that the cific stress ratio of r0:
damage accumulation evaluated by the residual strength
model is nonlinear. Results in literature29 show that n = Cðs −S0 Þm ½R0 −RðnÞb , ð1Þ
cumulative fatigue damage under high–low block loading
is different to that under low–high block loading, demon-
strating that the residual strength model is capable of tak- where s is the maximum fatigue stress for tension–
ing the load sequence effect into account in fatigue life tension loading and is the absolute value of minimum
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2132 WAN ET AL.

fatigue stress for compression–compression loading, R(n) The following relations are presented to relate the
is the residual strength of the composite material, n is the static and fatigue strengths of pristine woven laminate
number of fatigue cycles, S0 is the fatigue limit of the to those of damaged laminate with an initial circular
pristine composite material, R0 is the static strength of delamination at the centre of the midplane:
the pristine composite material and C, m and b are model


parameters. s, S0, R0 and R(n) are of the unit of MPa. As R0 = R00 1 −α1 k β1 , ð2Þ
the residual strength R(n) decreases with the increase of
fatigue stress s and fatigue cycles n, model parameter m

S0 = S00 1 − α2 kβ2 , ð3Þ
is normally negative whereas b is positive to characterize
the relation among residual strength, fatigue stress and
fatigue cycles. The residual strength model (Equation 1) where k = wd , d is the initial damage size (diameter of the
is a phenomenological model to characterize strength initial circular delamination), w is the width of the speci-
degradation of composite materials under fatigue load, men and R0 and S0 are the static and fatigue strengths of
which allows dimensional inconsistency between resid- the composites with an initial delamination of diameter–
ual strength (or fatigue stress) and fatigue cycles. A good width ratio k. By using the experimental data on residual
agreement was achieved between the predictions and the strengths of composite laminates with midplane circular
actual experimental results when the undamaged woven delamination in literatures,7,9 the relationship between
laminate was under constant amplitude fatigue loading.33 R0 and k (Equation 2) is fitted and plotted in Figure 1.
The residual strength model (Equation 1) was devel- Note that Figure 1A illustrates the fitting curve from
oped for laminates with double edge notches to account residual strength data of T300/QY8911 composite lami-
for the notch effect on residual strength.34 Note that the nates with the lay-up of [(45/0/−45/90)3/45/0//−45/90/
residual strength model in Wan et al.34 is a phenomeno- (90/−45/0/45)4] where the symbol “//” represents
logical model characterizing the fatigue damage accumu- the position of initial circular delamination.9 Figure 1B
lation by using strength degradation instead of physical illustrates the fitting curves from residual strength data
damage. Because the initial delamination damage also of three types of T300/QY8911 composite laminates
has a detrimental effect on residual strength and fatigue with midplane initial circular delamination which
life similar to the notch damage,5–15 the residual strength have three different stacking sequences (Type A: [45/−
model in literature34 has been modified for the laminate 45/0/−45/0/45/90/0/45/90/−45/0]s, Type B: [45/−45/0/−
with a central circular delamination in this paper. It is 45/0/45/0/−45/45/45/90/45/−45/−45/45/0]s, Type C:
also worth noting that only the effect of damage size on [45/−45/0/−45/0/45/90/−45/0/45/90/45/0/−45/90/0]s).7
residual strength and fatigue life was considered in litera- Good agreement between experimental data and fitting
ture.34 A further modification is introduced in this paper curves has been achieved, demonstrating the validity of
by normalizing the initial damage size with the laminate above mathematical assumptions.
width to reflect the effect of damage size more accurately. Substituting Equations 2 and 3 into Equation 1 shows

FIGURE 1 Variation of static strength R0 with diameter–width ratio k: (A) experimental data from literature,9 (B) experimental data
7
from literature
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WAN ET AL. 2133


 m  0
 b can be reduced to the form of s − n − R residual strength

n = C s −S00 1 −α2 kβ2 R0 1 − α1 k β1 −RðnÞ : ð4Þ
surface model (Equation 1). The residual strength surface
model at n and n+Δn loading cycles can be obtained as
Equation 4 is the governing equation of the residual
(
strength model accounting for the effect of normalized n = C ðs −S0 Þm ½R0 −RðnÞb
delamination size. The initial residual strength of the : ð5Þ
n + Δn = C ðs −S0 Þm ½R0 −Rðn + ΔnÞb
delaminated composite component is usually obtained
from the static test, and the model constants α1, β1 and
R00 are obtained from the static test data by means of the Taking transformation of Equation 5 by subtraction gives
linear regression principle. The residual strength data of
n o
fatigue tests are used to determine the model parameters Δn = Cðs −S0 Þm ½R0 −Rðn + ΔnÞb − ½R0 −RðnÞb : ð6Þ
α2, β2, S00 , C, m and b with the best fitting method.34

Rearranging Equation 6, the residual strength after Δn

2.2 | Flowchart for life prediction with number of loading cycles under constant amplitude
the residual strength degradation-based fatigue stress s can be obtained as
model
 1b
Δn
With the modified residual strength model shown in Rðn + ΔnÞ = R0 − + ½R0 −RðnÞb : ð7Þ
Cðs −S0 Þm
Equation 4, fatigue life can be determined through a
cycle-by-cycle analysis based on the fatigue stress cycle
and fatigue-driven degraded residual strength of the Equation 7 is the iterative formula for residual strength
material. For a woven composite laminate with an initial of composites under fatigue load, which is a function of
delamination of diameter–width ratio k, the modified both the fatigue stress s and the loading cycles Δn.
residual stress s − n − R − k model shown in Equation 4 Figure 2 shows the flowchart of the life prediction

F I G U R E 2 Flowchart for residual

strength degradation-based
life prediction
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2134 WAN ET AL.

procedure of the residual strength degradation-based of woven composite laminates (carbon fibre-reinforced
model under variable amplitude fatigue loading. Note polymer [CFRP] of 3238A/CF3052 and graphite fibre-
that in Figure 2, r represents stress ratio of fatigue cycle, reinforced polymer [GFRP] of 3238A/EW250F) with the
Sm represents mean stress, σ t represents tensile strength lay-up of [(45/−45)/(0/90)]3s. The specimen geometry is
and σ c represents compressive strength. The residual presented in Figure 3. Note that ‘x’ in Figure 3 is the
strength degradation of composites is calculated in a delamination diameter that equals to 4, 6 or 8 mm for the
cycle-by-cycle manner using Equation 7. The model delaminated specimens with the diameter–width ratio k
parameters in strength degradation formula (Equation 7) of 19 , 16 and 29 , respectively. The circular delamination was
for composite materials at different stress ratios r for introduced by inserting a Teflon film at the centre of the
fatigue life prediction under spectrum load will be midplane of the specimen at the layup stage. The lami-
derived in Section 3.3. In order to characterize the differ- nate plates were cured in an autoclave under 130 C cur-
ence in tensile strength and compressive strength of the ing temperature and 0.5-MPa pressure. Both the
woven composite material, the ratio between tensile undamaged and delaminated plates were cut by a
strength and compressive strength is used to adjust the water jet.
residual strength of the material when transition between As there is no standard test method for composite
tension-dominated and compression-dominated fatigue laminates with initial delamination, the open-hole static
cycles occurs. The final fatigue life is reached when the and fatigue test standards for composite laminates35,36
residual strength descends to be equal or less than the were used for specimen design and testing in the current
applied maximum stress of the fatigue cycle. study. Following ASTM standards,35,36 the static tests
were performed under the loading rate of 2 mm/min.
Following ASTM standard,35 the constant amplitude
3 | RESULTS fatigue tests were carried out under tension–tension at
the stress ratio of 0.05 and under compression–
3.1 | Results of static and fatigue tests and compression at the stress ratio of 10 with the sinusoidal
model parameters waveform at frequency of 10 Hz. Figure 4 shows the test
set-up where antibuckling device was used for the com-
Static and constant amplitude fatigue tests were carried pressive static and fatigue tests. The antibuckling device
out with Instron-8803 testing machine on two kinds was narrower than the specimens by 2 mm in order to

FIGURE 3 Specimen: (A) without damage, (B) with initial delamination

F I G U R E 4 Experiment assembly:
(A) tensile static test and tension–tension
fatigue test, (B) compressive static test
and compression–compression
fatigue test [Colour figure can be viewed
at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
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WAN ET AL. 2135

expose both unloaded edges of specimen with a clearance The static strengths of undamaged and delaminated
of 1 mm. Two antifriction polytetrafluoroethylene woven GFRP and CFRP composites are presented in
(PTEE) foils with the same dimensions as antibuckling Table 1, which are calculated on the basis of the gross
device were placed between the specimen and the cross-sectional area of the specimen. It can be seen from
antibuckling device as shown in Figure 4.37 The gap Table 1 that the coefficients of variation for the static
between specimen and the antibuckling fixture was strength results are less than 5%, indicating that the scat-
checked by using a feeler gage (0.05 ± 0.05 mm) after ter of the test results is acceptable. In addition, analysis
installation to ensure no bending contributes to compres- of variance has been performed to determine the signifi-
sion.36 For each type of specimen, four applied stress cance of differences for static strength results (ten-
levels were chosen to achieve fatigue lives of 104, 105, sile/compressive strengths of GFRP/CFRP composites) in
5 × 105 and 106 cycles. Five specimens were employed Table 1. It shows that the significance levels of differ-
under each applied stress level. If the specimen survived ences for static strength results in Table 1 are below 0.01.
at the target fatigue life, it was tested up to failure Thus, it can be concluded from Table 1 that the tensile
according to the static test standard35,36 to determine the and compressive strengths of woven composites decrease
residual strength. with the increase in delamination diameter, indicating
Figure 5 presents the failed specimens during tensile that the initial delamination has a detrimental effect on
and compressive fatigue tests. It can be seen from static strength. The detrimental effect is stronger in com-
Figure 5 that the fatigue specimens under tensile fatigue pression as the percentage reduction in compressive
load show fibre-dominated failure modes whereas those strength is greater than that in tension for both materials.
under compressive fatigue load are controlled by matrix- The fatigue experimental data of woven GFRP and
dominated failure modes. The damage initiates from the CFRP composites are plotted in Figure 6. It is worth not-
circular delamination and propagates until final failure of ing that the data points marked with arrows and residual
the specimens. The presence of internal artificial delami- strength values in brackets represent the survival speci-
nation offers a preferential way for interlayer delamina- mens that were tested under static loading after the
tion under tensile fatigue loading (shown in Figure 5A), targeted fatigue life. The effect of delamination is again
which leads to the disruption of the effective stress trans- greater under compressive fatigue load than under tensile
fer between layers. Massive breakage and pull-out of fatigue load, which is consistent with the effect of delami-
fibres subsequently happen to cause the final fracture of nation on static strength. The residual strength of the
specimen. On the other hand, the damage initiates from fatigued composite laminate is lower than the initial
the embedded delamination and final failure happens at strength listed in Table 1. There is however no direct cor-
the location of delamination under compressive fatigue relation among the residual strengths of the run-out spec-
loading as stress concentration and local buckling exists imens at target fatigue lives of 105, 5 × 105 and 106 cycles.
near the embedded delamination (shown in Figure 5B). This is expected as these run-out samples were tested
The specimens under static loading show similar failure under different fatigue stress levels in order to achieve
modes to specimens under fatigue loading as shown in different target fatigue lives. The fatigue damage accumu-
Figure 5. lation after the targeted fatigue life of 106 cycles could be

F I G U R E 5 Failed
specimens: (A) under tensile
fatigue loading, (B) under
compressive fatigue loading
[Colour figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
 2136

TABLE 1 Results of static strength (unit: MPa)

Loading
Composites direction Data 0 4 mm 6 mm 8 mm
GFRP Tension Test results 346.8, 355.1, 358.9, 342.1, 344.4 329.0, 348.4, 331.6, 323.2, 343.7 323.2, 331.3, 341.8, 330.5, 328.7 315.1, 330.2, 331.9, 328.0, 333.8
Mean value 349.5 335.2 331.1 327.8
Standard 7.21 10.51 6.76 7.41
deviation
Coefficient of 2.1% 3.1% 2.0% 2.3%
variation
Compression Test results 225.1, 237.7, 239.7, 234.6, 240.9 223.3, 220.8, 222.4, 209.3, 216.3 207.2, 220.0, 212.0, 213.9, 222.1 218.8, 212.4, 214.5, 209.2, 211.2
Mean value 235.6 218.4 215.0 213.2
Standard 6.34 5.77 6.05 3.66
deviation
Coefficient of 2.7% 2.6% 2.8% 1.7%
variation
CFRP Tension Test results 552.1, 547.3, 538.9, 532.0, 538.7 487.0, 473.4, 452.9, 466.6, 481.1 478.1, 467.2, 461.3, 448.3, 463.5 464.3, 468.5, 459.2, 459.6, 443.8
Mean value 541.8 472.2 463.7 459.1
Standard 7.91 13.26 10.75 9.35
deviation
Coefficient of 1.5% 2.8% 2.3% 2.0%
variation
Compression Test results 409.4, 424.8, 421.8, 419.7, 412.5 341.9, 351.4, 355.8, 331.1, 342.9 327.7, 346.2, 342.6, 326.0, 339.1 340.2, 339.0, 321.4, 332.3, 323.9
Mean value 417.6 344.6 336.3 331.3
Standard 6.46 9.54 9.02 8.55
deviation
Coefficient of 1.5% 2.8% 2.7% 2.6%
variation
WAN ET AL.

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WAN ET AL. 2137

F I G U R E 6 Tension–tension and compression–compression fatigue test results: (A) woven graphite fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP)
under tension–tension loading, (B) woven GFRP under compression–compression loading, (C) woven carbon fibre-reinforced polymer
(CFRP) under tension–tension loading, (D) woven CFRP under compression–compression loading (unit: MPa)

smaller than the damage after the targeted fatigue life

of 5 × 105 cycles as the applied fatigue stress to achieve a0 = lgC, ð12Þ
106 target life is lower than the stress to achieve
5 × 105 cycles. a1 = m, ð13Þ
Test results in Table 1 and Figure 6 have been used to
determine the model parameters and confidence intervals a2 = b: ð14Þ
by following the method in Wan et al.34 Taking the loga-
rithm form of Equation 4 gives By using the experimental data (si, ni, Ri, ki) (i = 1,2,  ,l)
and binary linear regression method based on the mini-
y = a0 + a1 x 1 + a2 x 2 , ð8Þ mum

0 value  principle of residual sum of squares
Q S0 , α2 ,β2 , the estimated value of a can be obtained as
where
−1
a^ = ðX 0 X Þ X 0 Y , ð15Þ
y = lgn, ð9Þ

where


x 1 = lg s − S00 1 −α2 k β2 , ð10Þ 2 3
a^0
6 7
a^ = 4 a^1 5, ð16Þ

  a^2
x 2 = lg R00 1 −α1 k β1 −RðnÞ , ð11Þ
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2138 WAN ET AL.

2 3
1 x 11 x 21 coefficients (i.e., estimated model parameters m and b in
61 x x 7 Table 2) are below 0.01.
6 12 22 7
X =6 .
6. .. . 7, ð17Þ
4. . .. 75
1 x 1l x 2l 3.2 | Fatigue life prediction under
constant amplitude loading
2 3
y1
6y 7 The model parameters in Table 2 are employed for
6 27
Y =6 7
6 .. 7: ð18Þ fatigue life prediction of specimens with 8-mm initial
4. 5 delamination (k = 29 ) under constant amplitude loading.
yl By substituting the given diameter–width ratio of the
delamination (k = 29 ) to the s − n − R − k model, Equa-
The 95% confidence lower and upper limits are deter- tion 4 becomes the s − n − R residual strength surface
mined as38 models for woven GFRP and CFRP composites with
8-mm initial delamination. The s − n − R surface models

 m  0
 b
n = C s −S00 1 − α2 k β2 R0 1 −α1 k β1 −RðnÞ 10 − δðk,s,RÞ , are further reduced to the SN fatigue curve models plot-
ted in Figure 7 by making s = R according to the residual
ð19Þ
strength criterion.

 m  0
 b Figure 7 shows the comparison between the experi-
n = C s −S00 1 −α2 kβ2 R0 1 − α1 k β1 −RðnÞ 10δðk,s,RÞ , mental result and model prediction of woven GFRP and
ð20Þ CFRP with 8-mm initial delamination at stress ratios of
0.05 and 10. The 95% confidence limits for the model pre-
diction curves are also plotted in Figure 7. Unlike typical
with SN curves showing larger width of confidence intervals at
the upper and bottom ends in comparison with the mid-
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Q −1
dle of the experimental data, the width of the confidence
δðk, s, RÞ = t 0:975 ðl −3Þ  1 + x ðX 0 X Þ x 0 , ð21Þ interval shows little variation for all four cases presented.
l− 3
This is due to the fact that the testing data of the current
x = ½1 x 1 x 2 , ð22Þ study cover only the middle part of the SN curve of this
composite material, not including all three regimes of the
X
l fatigue data. The good correlation between the model
Q= ðyi − a^0 − a^1 x 1i − a^2 x 2i Þ2 , ð23Þ prediction and experimental result demonstrates that the
i=1 developed s − n − R − k residual strength model is capa-
ble of predicting the fatigue life of delaminated woven
where Q is the residual sum of squares. δ is the confi- laminate under constant amplitude fatigue loading.
dence interval function with respect to k, s and R.
Table 2 lists the determined model parameters of
s − n − R − k residual strength models for woven GFRP 3.3 | Fatigue life prediction under block
and CFRP composites. As binary linear regression analy- loading
sis was applied to estimate the model parameters, square
of the correlation coefficient R2 is also listed in Table 2. Figure 8 illustrates the load history of block loading
In addition, the significance levels of the regression fatigue tests including two-stage tests at the stress ratio of

TABLE 2 Model parameters of modified residual strength models for woven laminates with central circular delamination

Materials Stress ratio α1 β1 R00 (MPa) α2 β2 S00 (MPa) C m b R2

GFRP 0.05 0.15 0.60 349.45 5.21 1.82 44.72 8.50 × 10 16
−6.54 0.53 0.91
10 0.19 0.44 235.60 6.04 2.10 119.28 2.36 × 10 13
−4.89 0.12 0.93
CFRP 0.05 0.24 0.28 541.82 4.11 2.39 116.75 4.55 × 10 36
−13.09 0.21 0.97
10 0.31 0.27 417.63 3.20 2.07 166.73 9.07 × 10 15
−5.74 0.36 0.91

Abbreviations: CFRP, carbon fibre-reinforced polymer; GFRP, graphite fibre-reinforced polymer.

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WAN ET AL. 2139

F I G U R E 7 Comparison between model predictions and constant amplitude fatigue experimental data of woven laminates with 8-mm
initial delamination: (A) woven graphite fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) under tension–tension loading, (B) woven GFRP under
compression–compression loading, (C) woven carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) under tension–tension loading, (D) woven CFRP
under compression–compression loading

F I G U R E 8 Load history of block loading fatigue tests: (A) high–low two-stage test of woven graphite fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP)
composites, (B) low–high two-stage test of woven carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites, (C) high–low–high repeated test of
woven GFRP composites, (D) high–low–high repeated test of woven CFRP composites
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2140 WAN ET AL.

0.05 (high–low and low–high sequences) and repeated where Sa and Sm are the stress amplitude and mean stress
block tests consisting of stress ratios of 0.05 and 10 (high– of the fatigue cycle, S−1 is the fatigue endurance limit
low–high sequence). Note that the stress ratio sequence under fully reversed cyclic loading and σ b is the ultimate
for repeated high–low–high sequence is 0.05–10–0.05, strength of the material that is either the ultimate tensile
and ‘S’ in Figure 8 represents the absolute maximum strength σ t when the absolute maximum fatigue stress is
fatigue stress of the fatigue cycle. The fatigue cycles of tensile (−1 ≤ r ≤ 1) or the ultimate compressive strength
the first block of the two-stage fatigue tests (Figure 6A,B) σ c when the absolute maximum fatigue stress is compres-
account for 50% of the theoretical fatigue life sive (r < − 1 or r > 1).
corresponding to the applied stress level. The load spec- For a fatigue cycle of stress ratio r, it can be shown that
trum of the high–low–high sequence in Figure 6C,D was
8
repeated until the failure of the material. A minimum of > 1 −r
< Sa = Smax,r
three specimens were tested under each type of 2 , ð25Þ
block load. >
: Sm = 1 + r Smax,r
The model parameters in Table 2 are employed for 2
fatigue life prediction of specimens with 8-mm initial
delamination (k = 29 ) under block loading. Equation 4 is where Smax,r is the maximum fatigue stress at the stress
the residual strength model accounting for the effect of ratio of r.
normalized delamination size at a specific stress ratio r0. Substituting Equation 25 into Equation 24 shows
Note that r0 is the stress ratio at which the experimental
data and model parameters have been determined (such ð1 −r ÞSmax,r ð1 + r ÞSmax,r
+ = 1: ð26Þ
as 0.05 or 10 as shown in Table 2). However, actual engi- 2S − 1 2σ t
neering structures often suffer from variable amplitude
spectrum load under different stress ratios as shown in At a given stress ratio r0, Equation 26 becomes
Figure 8. Although the load history in Figure 8 only con-
sists of stress ratios 0.05 and 10, there exists a large num- ð1 − r 0 ÞSmax,r0 ð1 + r 0 ÞSmax,r 0
+ = 1: ð27Þ
ber of actual spectrum load history that contain different 2S − 1 2σ t
stress ratios without known test data and model parame-
ters. It is therefore important to extend the determined Taking transformation of Equations 26 and 27 to elimi-
residual strength model at a specific stress ratio r0 to be nate S−1 yields
suitable for arbitrary stress ratio r. The modified Good-
man diagram shown in Figure 9 is adopted to modify 2σ b ð1− r Þ
Smax,r 0 = Smax,r :
Equation 4 to account for the effect of stress ratio on ð1− r 0 Þ½2σ b − ð1 + r ÞSmax,r  + ð1 + r 0 Þð1− r ÞSmax,r
fatigue life34: ð28Þ

Sa Sm Equation 28 gives the absolute maximum fatigue stress s

+ = 1, ð24Þ
S − 1 σb when −1 ≤ r ≤ 1, − 1 ≤ r0 ≤ 1 and σ b = R0 representing
the initial tensile static strength of the laminate with ini-
tial delamination.
By means of the definition of the stress ratio, one has

Smax,r = Smin,r =r
, ð29Þ
Smax,r0 = Smin,r0 =r 0

where Smin,r and Smin,r 0 are the minimum fatigue stress.

Substituting Equation 29 into Equation 28 gives

2σ b r 0 ð1− r Þ
jSmin,r 0 j = jSmin,r j:
ð1 −r 0 Þ½2rσ b + ð1 + r ÞjSmin,r j − ð1 + r 0 Þð1− r ÞjSmin,r j
ð30Þ

F I G U R E 9 Constant life diagram considering the effect of Equation 30 gives the absolute maximum fatigue stress s
compressive mean stress34 when r < − 1 or r > 1,r0 < − 1 or r0 > 1 and σ b = − R0
 14602695, 2020, 9, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ffe.13296 by Readcube (Labtiva Inc.), Wiley Online Library on [12/06/2025]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
WAN ET AL. 2141

1 −σ i =σ b
representing the initial compressive static strength of the 1 −σ =σ b ni
laminate with initial delamination. Di = Di − 1i −1 + , ð31Þ
Ni
Substituting Equations 28 and 30 into Equation 4
leads to Equation 31 is the modified fatigue-driven resid-
ual strength s − n − R − k − r model that can quantita- where Di and Di − 1 are the cumulative damage index for
tively characterize the effect of delamination size and ith and (i − 1)th block, respectively, σ i and σ i − 1 are the

8 (

>
> 2R00 1 − α1 kβ1 ð1 − r ÞSmax,r !
>
> n=C 
  − 1 ≤ r ≤ 1,
>
> ð1 −r 0 Þ 2R00 1 −α1 kβ1 − ð1 + r ÞSmax,r + ð1 + r 0 Þð1 −r ÞSmax,r
>
> ,
>
> − 1 ≤ r0 ≤ 1
>
>
 m 0
 b
< −S00 1 −α2 k β2 R0 1 −α1 k β1 −RðnÞ
(
 ð31Þ
>
> −2r 0 R00 1 − α1 kβ1 ð1 −r ÞjSmin,r j !
>n=C
> 
 
>
> r < −1 or r > 1,
>
>
> ð1 −r 0 Þ −2rR00 1 −α1 kβ1 + ð1 + r ÞjSmin,r j − ð1 + r 0 Þð1 −r ÞjSmin,r j :
>
> r 0 < −1 or r 0 > 1
>
:
 m 0
 b
−S00 1 −α2 k β2 R0 1 − α1 kβ1 −RðnÞ

stress ratio on fatigue life and residual strength of the maximum absolute value of the fatigue stress for the ith
composite component. and (i − 1)th block, respectively, σ b is the ultimate
Both the linear Palmgren–Miner rule and the residual strength of composite materials, which is either the ulti-
strength degradation-based model are used to predict the mate tensile strength for tension-dominated loading or
fatigue life for woven GFRP and CFRP composites with the ultimate compressive strength for compression-
8-mm initial delamination (k = 29 ) under block loading. dominated loading, ni is the number of loading cycles for
As mentioned earlier, substituting the given diameter– ith block and Ni is the constant amplitude fatigue life at
width ratio of the delamination and the stress ratio of the stress level of ith block. Note that the cumulative
fatigue cycle to the s − n − R − k − r model leads to the damage index for the first block is D1 = n1/N1.
s − n − R residual strength surface model. Then Table 3 summarizes the experimental results and life
according to the residual strength criterion, substituting predictions for woven GFRP and CFRP composites with
s = R into s − n − R surface model leads to the SN fatigue 8-mm initial delamination under block fatigue load. It
curve models. By utilizing the Palmgren–Miner cumula- can be seen from the experimental results that the cumu-
tive damage model with the SN curves, the fatigue life is lative damage of woven composites follows the nonlinear
predicted by accumulating the damage induced by each damage accumulation rule. The fatigue life of woven
individual load block until the total damage of all the GFRP composites under low–high sequence is shorter
load blocks reaches a unit. For the life prediction using than Palmgren–Miner prediction but the fatigue life
the residual strength degradation-based model, the under high–low sequence is longer than Palmgren–Miner
s − n − R surfaces are used to predict the degraded prediction, indicating that the loading sequence has great
strength of woven GFRP and CFRP composites with influence on fatigue damage accumulation of woven
8-mm initial delamination during fatigue. The final composites, which is consistent with literatures.22,29 The
fatigue life is obtained using the cycle-by-cycle analysis fatigue lives predicted by Palmgren–Miner rule under
illustrated in the flowchart in Figure 2. low–high and high–low sequence are the same, indicat-
In addition, based on the SN fatigue curve models, ing that the linear Palmgren–Miner model is not capable
the Hashin and Rotem model (Equation 32)39 is also used of taking the loading sequence effect into account. The
to predict the fatigue life of woven GFRP and CFRP com- fatigue life predicted by Hashin and Rotem model and
posites with 8-mm initial delamination. This model is the strength degradation-based model is shorter under
nonlinear and has been applied in life prediction of com- low–high sequence than that under high–low sequence,
posite materials (including woven composite materials) showing the capacity of Hashin and Rotem model and
under spectrum load.21,27 the residual strength degradation-based model to account
 2142

TABLE 3 The experimental results and life predictions of fatigue lives under block loading

Materials GFRP CFRP

Loading High–low Low–high High–low–high High–low–high

Fatigue life (cycles, test Test 227 199, 320 034, 285 996 176 427, 189 748, 176 881 112 912, 88 377, 179 336, 139 849, 138 802, 135 639, 116 052, 130 700, 119 737, 105 923
results) results
Mean 277 743 181 018 131 855 121 610
value
Fatigue life (cycles, Palmgren– 199 807 199 807 175 791 175 448
Miner rule)
Relative deviation to test results (%) 28 10 33 44
Fatigue life (cycles, Hashin and 214 806 197 287 156 108 172 116
Rotem model)
Relative deviation to test results (%) 23 9 18 42
Fatigue life (cycles, residual 210 713 197 773 99 692 151 800
strength degradation)
Relative deviation to test results (%) 24 9 24 25

Abbreviations: CFRP, carbon fibre-reinforced polymer; GFRP, graphite fibre-reinforced polymer.

WAN ET AL.

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WAN ET AL. 2143

for the loading sequence effect under block loading. The linear and nonlinear Miner are 1300% and 28%, respec-
fatigue lives of woven composites under high–low–high tively, indicating that the proposed nonlinear Miner
sequence are shorter than Miner predictions for the two model can predict fatigue life well. Schaff and Davidson24
kinds of composites, demonstrating that the repetitive developed a residual strength model for fatigue life pre-
changes between tension–tension and compression– diction of graphite/epoxy composite laminates under ran-
compression fatigue cycles can reduce the fatigue lives of domly ordered spectrum loading that has a maximum
woven composites, which is consistent with literature.22 relative deviation of 32% to test results, showing good
The maximum relative deviations between fatigue life correlation between life predictions and experiments.
predictions and experiments using linear Palmgren–
Miner model, Hashin and Rotem model and the residual
strength degradation model are 44%, 42% and 25%, 4 | DISCUSSION
respectively. In order to compare them visually, experi-
mental and numerical results of fatigue lives under block The validity of the modified residual strength model for
loading are plotted in Figure 10. It can be seen from fatigue life prediction of woven composite laminates has
Table 3 and Figure 10 that the residual strength been demonstrated against the test results in Section 4.
degradation-based model provides more accurate fatigue Good agreement has been achieved between fatigue
life prediction than the linear and nonlinear Miner life predictions and experiments for woven GFRP and
models. It is similar to the results for edge notched com- CFRP composites with 8-mm initial delamination under
posite laminates in Wan et al.34 that the maximum rela- tension–tension and compression–compression loading.
tive deviations between experimental results and life The residual strength degradation-based model provides
predictions by Palmgren–Miner rule and residual more accurate fatigue life prediction than the traditional
strength model are 43% and 30%. Considering the large linear damage accumulation models under block loading,
scatter of fatigue data of composite materials, the relative which is attributed to the capacity of the model to con-
deviation of 25% could represent a good accuracy of sider the loading sequence effect. It is expected that the
fatigue life prediction, which is consistent with the state- improvement in life prediction accuracy with the residual
ments in Bendouba et al.20 and Schaff and Davidson.24 strength degradation-based model will be significantly
Bendouba et al.20 evaluated the fatigue life of car- greater when the difference in stress levels between the
bon/epoxy composite laminates under two-stage (low– low block and the high block increases.
high and high–low) block loading by using linear Figure 11 shows the different strength degradation
Palmgren–Miner and proposed nonlinear Miner model. behaviour plotted with the s − n − R fatigue surface
It was found that the maximum relative deviations models for woven GFRP composites with 8-mm initial
between numerical predictions and experiments for delamination under low–high and high–low sequence.
There is an interaction between the two load blocks, and
the interaction is significantly affected by the sequence of

F I G U R E 1 0 Comparison between life predictions and

experimental results under block loading (Case 1: graphite fibre-
reinforced polymer [GFRP] under high–low sequence, Case 2:
GFRP under low–high sequence, Case 3: GFRP under high–low– F I G U R E 1 1 Strength degradation of woven graphite
high sequence, Case 4: carbon fibre-reinforced polymer under fibre-reinforced polymer composites under low–high and
high–low–high sequence) high–low sequence
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2144 WAN ET AL.

load blocks. The fatigue life is predicted by the residual hand, the total fatigue life of the material under high–
strength degradation-based model with the criterion that low sequence is longer than the prediction without con-
fatigue failure happens when the maximum fatigue stress sidering load sequence effect. A possible explanation for
is equal to the residual strength. This makes the allow- this is that the fatigue cycles at the first stage of high–low
able total strength degradation (or damage accumulation) sequence improve the alignment of the fibres, increasing
dependent on the maximum fatigue stress of the final the stress taken by the fibres at the following stage. It
fatigue cycle. As shown in Figure 11, the allowable reduces the occurrence of matrix cracking and subse-
strength degradation (or damage accumulation) under quent delamination at the second low load stage,
pure low amplitude fatigue stress will be greater than retarding the final failure of the material.
that under pure high amplitude fatigue stress. The load It should be noted that the developed residual
sequence effect is hence introduced under block loading strength model is a phenomenological approach for
as the strength degradation (or damage accumulation) predicting the fatigue life and residual strength of com-
caused by first load block will influence the strength deg- posite laminates with initial delamination damage, which
radation at the second load block. Under low–high has been shown to be effective for woven composite lami-
sequence in the current study, the low block consumes nates considering the complexity in the damage modes
50% of the fatigue life corresponding to the pure low and their interactions associated with the interlacing
amplitude fatigue stress. The corresponding residual and undulating fibre tows. Future work is required to fur-
strength degradation (or damage accumulation) to ther develop the model by introducing the mesoscale geo-
this 50% fatigue life consumption under the pure low metrical details (such as fibre waviness), effect of stress
amplitude fatigue stress is however greater than the relaxation on residual strength and mesomechanics.
residual strength degradation (or damage accumulation) Experimental data of residual strength after fatigue and
corresponding to 50% fatigue life consumption under variable amplitude fatigue life of composite laminates
pure high amplitude fatigue stress. This means that more with initial delamination are scarce and highly desirable.
than 50% of the fatigue life, corresponding to the pure More experimental data of woven composite laminates
high amplitude fatigue stress, has been consumed at the with different delamination shapes and locations should
beginning of the high block of the low–high sequence. As be generated and used for the sensitivity study to improve
a result, the fatigue life of the high block of the low–high the proposed residual strength model further.
sequence will be shortened, causing the total fatigue life
of the low–high sequence to be smaller than the predic-
tion without considering load sequence effect. Same 5 | CONCLUSIONS
argument applies to explain the load sequence effect on
fatigue life of the laminate under high–low sequence, This research aims to develop an engineering tool to pre-
making the total fatigue life of the high–low sequence dict the residual service life of woven composite lami-
greater than the prediction without considering load nates with an initial delamination. Experimental and
sequence effect. numerical study were conducted on delaminated woven
The load sequence effect on fatigue life captured by GFRP and CFRP composites under static, constant ampli-
the residual strength degradation-based model agrees tude fatigue and variable amplitude fatigue loading. Four
with the experimental results of woven GFRP and CFRP conclusions are drawn as follows:
composites with 8-mm initial delamination under block
fatigue load. The fatigue damage accumulation at the first • A s − n − R − k − r residual strength model accounting
block of two-stage fatigue loading has influence on that for the effects of normalized delamination size and
at the following block, resulting in shorter fatigue life stress ratio has been proposed for predicting residual
under low–high sequence than that under high–low strength and fatigue life of woven composites with ini-
sequence. The fatigue cycles at first stage of low–high tial delamination, showing good agreement with
sequence leads to a large amount of matrix cracking, experiments.
which coalesces and triggers delaminations, disrupting • The life prediction based on Palmgren–Miner's linear
the load transfer among the layers. Thus, a larger number damage accumulation model is not capable of account-
of fibre breakage happens at the following high load ing for loading sequence effect and thus remains ques-
stage, resulting in faster failure of the material. The total tionable for predicting the fatigue life under variable
fatigue life of the material under low–high sequence is amplitude loading. The residual strength degradation-
shorter than the prediction without considering loading based model can effectively consider the loading
sequence effect, which agrees with the prediction of the sequence effect and predict the variable amplitude
residual strength degradation-based model. On the other fatigue life more accurately.
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WAN ET AL. 2145

• A clear loading sequence effect exists in fatigue dam- Sm Mean stress of a fatigue cycle
age accumulation of woven GFRP and CFRP compos- Smax,r Maximum fatigue stress at the stress ratio of r
ites. The fatigue life under low–high sequence is Smin,r Minimum fatigue stress at the stress ratio of r
shorter than that under high–low sequence. The S0 Fatigue strength of the composite material with
repetitive changes between tensile and compressive an initial delamination
fatigue cycles can significantly reduce the lives of S00 Fatigue strength of the pristine composite
woven composites. material
• The phenomenological approach adopted in the cur- W Width of the specimen
rent study in deriving the modified residual strength α1 Parameter of the modified residual strength
model proves to be effective in predicting key engi- model
neering parameter such as the residual service life of a α2 Parameter of the modified residual strength
complex system with multiple influential factors. It is model
expected that the same procedure can be applied to β1 Parameter of the modified residual strength
derive fatigue life prediction models for other complex model
material systems. β2 Parameter of the modified residual strength
model
σb Ultimate strength of the material
A C K N O WL E D G E M E N T σc Compressive strength of the material
This project was supported by the National Natural Sci- σt Tensile strength of the material
ence Foundation of China (51375033 and 51875021).
ORCID
Junjiang Xiong https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2979-4134
CONFLICT OF INTEREST Yigeng Xu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7194-2308
None.
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