Electrical behavior of laminated composites with intralaminar degradation: A comprehensive micro-meso homogenization procedure

Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) is a promising health monitoring technique to assess damage in laminated composites. Yet, the missing link between the various complex degradation mechanisms within the laminate and its global change in resistivity prevents ERT from being used as a quantitative technique. We propose an electrical mesomodel that can establish this link between the various microscale degradations and the resistivity changes in the measurements. The mesoscale homogenization of transverse cracks with local delamination of the ply is first described for in-plane electrical loading for both the outer and the inner plies. The mesoscale model is then extended to include the out-of-plane loading. The relationship between the mesoscale damage indicators and the degradation morphology is identified. These damage indicators are found to be intrinsic to the ply. As such, this defines the first step towards the interpretation of resistivity measurement in terms of micromechanical damage. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.