Elastoplastic shear-lag analysis of single-fiber composites and strength prediction of unidirectional multi-fiber composites

Anew procedure is proposed to predict the strength of multi-fiber composite based on the single fiber composite test. First, the flaw distribution in an embedded fiber is estimated with the statistical simulation. The stress distribution in the simulation is obtained by the elastoplastic shear-lag analysis considering the linear strain hardening effect of matrix. The simulated results are found to fit well with the experimental data, which shows the validity of the present simulation to estimate the statistical strength parameters for the embedded fiber. Then, the multi-fiber composite strength is predicted based on the obtained statistical fiber strength parameters. The stress profile in the multi-fiber composite is calculated with the elastoplastic three-dimensional (3D) shear-lag-analysis. The predicted strength via the weakest size scaling technique has a good agreement with our previous experimental data. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.