Studies of hygrothermal degradation of a single fiber composite: An iterative approach with embedded optical sensors and numerical analysis

The hydrothermal ageing of glass/epoxy interface is investigated using an experimental–numerical approach on cylindrical epoxy specimens with centrally located optical fibers. A 24 mm long Bragg grating sensor is inscribed on the optical fiber and used to monitor strains along the fiber, due to processing and subsequent ageing in water at 50 °C. The distributed strains are used to: (a) evaluate the residual strain field developed during processing, employing a parametric finite element identification scheme, (b) monitor the evolution of the moisture induced strains during ageing using linear and non-linear responses for the epoxy recorded experimentally, (c) track debond growth at the interface, generated during ageing, by adopting a concentration dependent cohesive finite element model. Good agreement is found between experimental data and simulations until 47 days of immersion (or 63% of saturation). Afterwards, the model is not quantitatively accurate but indicates well the trend of the experimental data.