PNNL

Abstract

In this paper, a continuum damage mechanics approach proposed by Renard et al. for continuous fiber composites subject to matrix cracking is extended to misoriented short-fiber composites. First, the associated damage variable is defined as a measure of the crack density, then the model by Laws et al. is used to determine the stiffness reduction of an aligned short-fiber composite. Considering moderate microcrack densities and assuming completely random and planar orientations of microcracks and fibers, the stiffness of a cracked misoriented fiber layer is obtained by averaging that of a cracked aligned fiber composite over all possible orientations and weighted by an orientation distribution function. The damage evolution law is obtained using the concepts of thermodynamics of continuum media.