MODELLING FATIGUE WITH SELF-HEATING OF POLYMERIC COMPOSITES BASED ON STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF TEMPERATURE PROFILES

The self-heating effect occurring during the fatigue loading of polymeric composite structures subjected to cyclic loading or vibration is a result of energy dissipation appearing due to the viscoelastic properties of the matrix of such composites. The occurrence of the self-heating effect during the operation of structural elements is very dangerous, since the increasing self-heating temperature intensifies the initiation and propagation of fatigue damage, and may significantly shorten the residual life of such elements. Following this, it is necessary to control this process. The theoretical models developed to date may be inaccurate in predicting the residual life of a structure subjected to fatigue with the appearance of self-heating, especially after the initiation of structural damage. Therefore, the authors proposed the empirical model based on estimating the parameters from the self-heating temperature profiles with statistical analysis of these parameters, which allows one to determine the estimators and predict the residual life of composite structures working in such conditions in more accurate way.