Health monitoring of cross-ply laminates: Modelling the correlation between damage evolution and electrical resistance change

In this work an analytical solution is developed to accurately predict the stiffness reduction in conductive cross-ply laminates, caused by matrix cracking in the transverse layers, as a function of the electrical resistance change of the laminate itself. To this end a closed form solution is initially developed with the aim to link the density of transverse cracks to the electric resistance of the cross-ply laminate. Such an expression is later used within a further model which allows the stiffness degradation associated to a given crack density to be estimated. The accuracy of the proposed model is verified by comparison with a bulk of FE analyses. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.