A cohesive crack model coupled with damage for interface fatigue problems

An semi-analytical formulation based on the cohesive crack model is proposed to describe the phenomenon of fatigue crack growth along an interface. Since the process of material separation under cyclic loading is physically governed by cumulative damage, the material deterioration due to fatigue is taken into account in terms of interfacial cohesive properties degradation. More specifically, the damage increment is determined by the current separation and a history variable. The damage variable is introduced into the constitutive cohesive crack law in order to capture the history-dependent property of fatigue. Parametric studies are presented to understand the influences of the two parameters entering the damage evolution law. An application to a pre-cracked double-cantilever beam is discussed. The model is validated by experimental data. Finally, the effect of using different shapes of the cohesive crack law is illustrated © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.