A phase-field fracture model for fatigue behavior in fiber-reinforced composites

A new framework based on the phase field method is developed to model the fatigue fracture behavior of fiber-reinforced composite laminates. The growth path of matrix cracks can be simulated more accurately compared to the classical model. Further, anisotropic fatigue accumulation effects are considered in this model. Comparisons between simulations by the phase field model with uniform fatigue accumulation effects and the proposed method are encouraging. The new framework proposed can more naturally capture different types of crack growth in fiber- reinforced composites. The reliability and potential of this framework to model fatigue behavior for fiber-reinforced composite laminates are demonstrated by investigating several numerical examples. Moreover, the finite element implementation utilizes a simpler and robust approach via the ABAQUS user-defined subroutine UMAT and UMATHT, including the so called AT1, AT2 and PF-CZM models and two solution strategies.