Statistics of strength of elastic-brittle composite materials

M. Ostoja-Starzewski*, K. Alzebdeh, I. Jasiuk

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We study crack patterns and effective stress-strain response in unidirectional fiber-matrix composites subjected to out-of-plane and in-plane loading. The fibers are aligned in the longitudinal direction and arranged randomly, with no overlap, in the transverse plane. The fibers and the matrix are isotropic and elastic-brittle, which allows a parameterization of a wide range of composites in terms of a stiffness ratio and a strain-to-failure ratio. The analysis is carried out numerically using very fine two-dimensional spring networks permitting simulation of the crack initiation and propagation by sequentially removing bonds which exceed a local fracture criterion. Particular attention is given to the effects of scale and geometric randomness in these composites. We consider several 'windows of observation; (scales) and study crack patterns, types of constitutive responses, and statistics of the corresponding scale dependent effective stiffness and strength of such composites.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)365-371
Number of pages7
JournalUnknown Journal
Publication statusPublished - 1998
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science

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