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A Mechanistic Approach to Damage in Short-Fiber Composites Based on Micromechanical and Continuum Damage Mechanics Descriptions

Journal Article · · Composites Science and Technology, 64(5):607-617
A micro-macro mechanistic approach to matrix cracking in randomly oriented short-fiber composites is developed in this paper. At the micro-scale, the virgin and reduced elastic properties of the reference aligned fiber composite are determined using micromechanical models [1-5], and are then distributed over all possible orientations in order to compute the stiffness of the random fiber composite containing random matrix microcracks. After that the macroscopic response is obtained by means of a continuum damage mechanics formulation, which extends the thermodynamics based approach in [6] to randomly oriented short-fiber composites. Damage accumulations leading to initiation and propagation of a macroscopic crack are modeled using a vanishing element technique. The model is validated against the published experimental data and results [7]. Finally, its practical application is illustrated through the damage analysis of a random glass/epoxy composite plate containing a central hole and under tensile loading.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
902411
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-37945
Journal Information:
Composites Science and Technology, 64(5):607-617, Journal Name: Composites Science and Technology, 64(5):607-617 Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 64; ISSN 0266-3538; ISSN CSTCEH
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English