Co-authors​ :

 Marino QUARESIMIN (ITALY), Paolo Andrea CARRARO (ITALY), Lucio MARAGONI (ITALY), Michele ZAPPALORTO  

Fatigue failure and in-service loss of stiffness of composite parts are due to a multi- mechanisms damage evolution which mainly includes cracks, delamination and fibre failures. This paper presents the last improvements of an innovative, comprehensive framework for the fatigue design of composite parts, based on the actual physics of damage evolution. The initiation and growth of each mechanism, the interaction with the others and the effects on the strength and stiffness of the parts are described by suitable and experimentally validated models. The combination of all these models into a single design framework represents a significant step forward with respect to the design tools available on the market, resulting in an enormous increase in the safeness and reliability of the structural applications made with these materials. The theoretical basis behind the approach and the procedure for its application will be presented, together with examples of implementation on parts of industrial interest.