Abstract
An electromechanical model is proposed for predicting the resistance change in CFRP cross-ply laminates with transverse cracking loaded in tension. A one-dimensional equivalent circuit model was established for describing the relation between the resistance change and mechanical strain at a given transverse crack density. A shear lag model was employed for obtaining the mechanical strain distribution. The relative resistance change-strain curve was measured for various transverse crack density and the slope and secant of the curve were defined as the gage factor and residual resistance change, respectively. Unknown functions in the model were determined using the measured residual resistance changes. The model can predict the bilinear behavior in the relative resistance change-strain curves during loading/unloading. It is found that the second residual resistance change can be the parameter for predicting transverse crack density because it increases monotonically with transverse crack density compared with the gage factors.
