Fatigue and fracture

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) structures, such as bridges, are light in weight compared to their live loads and have a service life of up to 100 years. The sustained repetitive loading to which they are subjected thus raises the question of the fatigue behavior of such structures, and particularly their connections, which in many cases are adhesively bonded. A frequent failure mode in FRP structures is debonding, e.g. in structural joints between adherends or between skins and cores of sandwiches. To understand and describe this fracture behavior, fracture mechanics joints are used to derive mixed-mode failure criteria. However, currently used fracture mechanics joints are not able to simulate two-dimensional crack propagation, e.g. originating from defects in the skin-core interface of sandwiches.

Fatigue

– Fatigue failure criteria for adhesively-bonded joints
– Variable amplitude loading
– Fatigue-creep interaction, interrupted fatigue

Fracture

– Mixed-mode failure criteria for adhesively-bonded joints
– Two-dimensional crack propagation
– Progressive damage modeling

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Completed PhD theses

Load-history effects in fibre-reinforced polymer composite materials
A. Movahedirad, T. Keller and A. Vasilopoulos (Dirs.). EPFL, Lausanne, 2019.
Abstract

Two-dimensional crack growth in FRP laminates and sandwich panels
A. Cameselle Molares, T. Keller and A. Vasilopoulos (Dirs.). EPFL, Lausanne, 2019.
Abstract – Full Text

Mixed-mode static and fatigue failure criteria for adhesively-bonded FRP joints
M. Shahverdi, T. Keller and A. Vasilopoulos (Dirs.). EPFL, Lausanne, 2013.
Abstract – Full Text

Fatigue life prediction of adhesively-bonded fiber-reinforced polymer structural joints under spectrum loading patterns
R. Sarfaraz Khabbaz, T. Keller and A. Vasilopoulos (Dirs.). EPFL, Lausanne, 2012.
Abstract – Full Text

Fracture and fatigue of adhesively-bonded fiber-reinforced polymer structural joints
Y. Zhang, T. Keller and A. Vasilopoulos (Dirs.). EPFL, Lausanne, 2010.
Abstract – Full Text

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