Geometric Modeling of Transverse Cracking of Composites
355
Fig. 6 Effect of the shape
parameter k (for λ = 1) (top)
and of the scale parameter λ
(for k = 3) (bottom) on the
cumulative Weibull
distribution used to describe
the fiber/matrix interface
strength distribution
An example of interfacial strength distribution with an average value of 80 MPa
and a variance σ of about 3 MPa is shown in Fig. 7.
In the crack initiation component of the model, each fiber/matrix interface is
assigned randomly a strength value based on the distribution shown in Fig. 7, and
transverse cracking is assumed to occur, and then the stress concentration (see
Sect. 3) associated with each fiber pair reaches the lesser of the two strength values.
This critical value associated with each fiber pair is pre-computed based on the fiber
placement and assigned strength values.
355
Fig. 6 Effect of the shape
parameter k (for λ = 1) (top)
and of the scale parameter λ
(for k = 3) (bottom) on the
cumulative Weibull
distribution used to describe
the fiber/matrix interface
strength distribution
An example of interfacial strength distribution with an average value of 80 MPa
and a variance σ of about 3 MPa is shown in Fig. 7.
In the crack initiation component of the model, each fiber/matrix interface is
assigned randomly a strength value based on the distribution shown in Fig. 7, and
transverse cracking is assumed to occur, and then the stress concentration (see
Sect. 3) associated with each fiber pair reaches the lesser of the two strength values.
This critical value associated with each fiber pair is pre-computed based on the fiber
placement and assigned strength values.