A homogenisation-based continuum damage mechanics model for cyclic damage in 3D composites

This paper develops a 3D homogenisation based continuum damage mechanics (HCDM) model for fibre-reinforced composites undergoing micromechanical damage under cyclic loading. Micromechanical damage in a representative volume element (RVE) of the material occurs by fibre-matrix interfacial debonding, which is incorporated in the model through a hysteretic bilinear cohesive zone model. The proposed model expresses a damage evolution surface in the strain space in the principal damage co-ordinate system or PDCS. PDCS enables the model to account for the effect of non-proportional load history. The material constitutive law involves a fourth order orthotropic tensor with stiffness characterised as a macroscopic internal variable. Cyclic damage parameters are introduced in the monotonic HCDM model((1)) to describe the material degradation due to fatigue. Three dimensional damage in composites is accounted for through functional forms of the fourth order damage tensor in terms of components of macroscopic strain and elastic stiffness tenser. The HCDM model parameters are calibrated from homogenisation of micromechanical solutions of the RVE for a few representative cyclic strain histories. The proposed model is validated by comparing results of the HCDM model with pure micromechanical analysis results followed by homogenisation. Finally, the potential of cyclic HCDM model as a design tool is demonstrated through macro-micro analysis of cyclic damage progression in composite structures.