DAMAGE DEVELOPMENT IN 3D-RUC OF POLYMER MATRIX WITH RANDOMLY DISTRIBUTED FIBER

摘要

3-D Repeating Unit Cells (RUCs) with randomly distributed fibers have been developed to study the damage mechanisms in uni-directional polymer composites at the micro-scale. Damage mechanisms considered in the present study are matrix plasticity, fiber-matrix interface debonding and fiber failure. Non-linear homogenization principles have been used to develop effective stress-strain responses of the 3D-RUCs. Differences in damage development due to varying fiber volume fractions, spatial distributions and strength distributions in fibers are of interest in the present work. A numerical framework has been developed which allows for conducting such studies across the chosen parameters.