The application of cycle merging and an extension of a fatigue spectrum simplification methodology from unidirectional to woven composite materials

Abstract

This work details the application of cycle merging on a fatigue spectrum applied to a unidirectional specimen. The specimen design has previously been the subject of a ground up approach to simplify a loading spectrum using truncation. The extension of this methodology to a woven specimen is also detailed with truncation demonstrating its ability to remove low damaging cycles, achieving a reduction of up to 74%. The combined application of truncation and cycle merging to achieve a 95% load spectrum reduction is also presented, with reduced spectra demonstrating similar experimental scatter in fatigue tests to the original uncompressed load spectrum.

Keywords

• Composites
• Durability
• Spectra simplification
• Truncation
• Cycle merging