Fatigue Failure Criteria for Unidirectional Fiber Composites

Abstract

Three-dimensional fatigue failure criteria for unidirectional fiber composites under states of cyclic stress are established in terms of quadratic stress polynomials which are expressed in terms of the transversely isotropic invariants of the cyclic stress. Two distinct fatigue failure modes, fiber mode, and matrix mode, are modeled separately. Material information needed for the failure criteria are the S-N curves for single stress components. A preliminary approach to incorporate scatter into the failure criteria is presented.