Analysis of fatigue delamination growth for piezoelectric laminated cylindrical shell considering nonlinear contact effect

This paper presents a nonlinear analysis model of fatigue delamination growth for piezoelectric laminated cylindrical shells with asymmetric laminations. Considering the geometric nonlinearity and the nonlinear contact effect, the nonlinear governing equations and corresponding matching conditions for the delaminated shells are established by using the movable-boundary variational principle. According to the Griffith criterion and Paris law, the energy release rate and delamination growth rate along the delamination front are determined. Then, using cyclic skip method, the delamination growth lengths are derived. In numerical examples, the effects of the voltages, stiffness factor of contact region, asymmetry of delamination and delamination length on energy rate and delamination growth length are discussed.