  The adverse effects of sea water environment on the fatigue life of woven
carbon fiber/vinyl ester composites are established at room temperature in view
of long-term survivability of offshore structures. It is observed that the
influence of sea water saturation on the fatigue life is more pronounced when
the maximum cyclic displacement approaches maximum quasi-static deflection,
that is, the reduction in the number of cycles to failure are comparable
between dry and sea water saturated samples at lower strain ranges (~37% at
0.46% strain), but are drastically different at higher strain ranges (~90% at
0.62% strain). Key damage modes that manifest during the fatigue loading is
also identified, and a non-linear model is established for predicting low cycle
fatigue life of these composites in dry and sea water saturated conditions.
