Influence of the mesostructure on the fatigue behaviour of textile composites

The aim of the present work is to analyze the influence of the mesostructure on the fatigue behaviour of textile composites. By affecting the stress distribution within a laminate, the mesostructure largely determines the damage evolution under cyclic loadings. In this work, plain woven fabrics with different number of layers were tested under cyclic loadings along the warp and weft directions, monitoring the damage evolution. The differences in meso- and micro-structure, together with the position of the bundle in the laminate, affect the fatigue-induced damage mechanisms. The stress fields obtained from 3D Finite Element analyses shed light onto the influence of the mesostructure on the damage onset. Eventually, a stress-based strategy to predict the life to crack initiation is proposed and validated against experimental data.