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Title: ANALYTICAL MODEL FOR COMPOSITE TRANSVERSE STRENGTH BASED ON COMPUTATIONAL MICROMECHANICS
The transverse strength of fiber-reinforced composites is a matrix-dominated property whose accurate prediction iscrucial to designing and optimizing efficient, lightweight structures. State-of-the-art analytical models for compositestrength predictions do not account for fiber distribution, orientation, and curing-induced residual stress that greatlyinfluence damage initiation and failure propagation at the microscale. This work presents a novel methodology to develop an analytical solution for transverse composite strength based on computational micromechanics that enables the modeling of stress concentration due to representative volume elements (RVE) morphology and residual stress. Finiteelement simulations are used to model statistical samples of composite microstructures, generate stress-strain curves,and correlate statistical descriptors of the microscale to stress concentration factors to predict transverse strength as a function of fiber volume fraction. Tensile tests of thin plies validated this approach for carbon- and glass-reinforced composites showing promise to obtain a generalized analytical model for transverse composite strength prediction.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2145387
NSF-PAR ID:
10418185
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
International Journal for Multiscale Computational Engineering
Volume:
21
Issue:
6
ISSN:
1543-1649
Page Range / eLocation ID:
77 to 97
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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