Finite element analysis for damage monitoring of glass fiber epoxy composites via the piezoelectric method

This study conducted a finite element analysis of the piezoelectric damage monitoring of unidirectional glass fiber epoxy composites to estimate the electric charge signals from the composite materials against the external load or the internal crack length. To verify the results of the finite element analysis, the calculated electric charges were compared with the results of a previous research. In addition, the crack length during Mode I fatigue tests of the DCB specimen was estimated and compared with the measured data. The estimated electric charge signals from the finite element analyses showed tendency similar to that of the measured ones, and could predict the crack propagation.