Micromechanical damage modeling of glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites using homogenized volume elements

A simplified approach for micromechanical modeling of fiber-reinforced polymer composite is proposed. A hexagonal-type single unit cell was subjected to four loading conditions to predict the effective properties of the unit cell. The unit cell properties with different fiber fractions were distributed randomly across n x n homogenized unit cells, which was expected to represent the random fiber distribution in the actual composite lamina. It was proved that the proposed homogenized multi-cells model could predict the composite transverse tensile stiffness and strength with a good agreement against experimental results and required much less computational cost compared to the classical fiber/matrix micromechanics model.

Automated summary

A simplified approach for micromechanical modeling of fiber-reinforced polymer composites is proposed. The method involves subjecting a hexagonal unit cell to four loading conditions and random distribution of unit cell properties with different fiber fractions in homogenized unit cells. The results show good agreement between the predicted and experimental transverse tensile stiffness and strength of the composite, while requiring significantly less computational cost compared to classical models.