Fatigue Testing of Composites

[sidi]

I need some help in defining parameters for a fatigue test - max stress or strain, number of cycles, etc. for a boat hull>

 

[bmeyers]

There is a testing device called the Hydromat, Developed by Gougeon Brothers (Proset Epoxy). This is probably the most real world fatigue tester. It uses an inflatable bladder ,I believe, to simulate hull bottom pressures.The bladder keeps you from killing yourself if the panel fails catastrophically(sp?). The test format has been adopted as an ASTM test.
In simpler times, we would break samples and subsequently cycle test at an arbitrary percentage of ultimate failure (say 80%).