Fatigue Crack Initiation and Propagation in Thick Multilayer Metallic Laminates

The objective of this study is to investigate and develop a methodology to predict fatigue crack initiation and propagation in metallic laminate structures. The fatigue crack initiation is based on strain-life approach. After a crack has initiated, Stress Intensity Factors (SIF) are obtained and the subsequent propagation is described following Paris law type equations (NASGRO). Detailed Stress-Strain distribution in each layer is obtained from FE models, including the effect of the transition from flat to slant cracks on the fatigue crack growth.