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Damage Initiation in Unidirectional Fiber Reinforced Polymeric Composites Under Shear Loading
Abstract
This work studies the initiation of the first failure event in unidirectional composites subjected to axial (longitudinal) shear loading. Two failure modes are investigated, depending on whether the dilatational or the distortional component of the strain energy density reaches its threshold. The nonuniform fiber distribution is described in terms of “degree of nonuniformityâ€. This degree of nonuniformity is proposed as a quantitative measure of manufacturing accuracy. The nonuniformity is implemented in a representative volume element (RVE). Several realizations of the RVE for different fiber volume fractions and different degrees of nonuniformity are analyzed using a finite element model. A parametric study is conducted to study the effects of fiber volume fraction, degree of nonuniformity and matrix stiffness on the damage initiation.
Keywords
Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs); Damage mechanics; Finite element analysis (FEA); Nonuniform fiber distribution.
DOI
10.12783/asc2017/15228
10.12783/asc2017/15228