A multiscale modeling approach to fatigue damage in discontinuous fiber polymer composites1
Ba Nghiep Nguyen*, Brian J. Tucker, Mohammad A. Khaleel
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PO Box 999, Richland, WA 99352, USA
ABSTRACT
The damage process in composite materials occurs at different length scales, ranging from the scale of the constituents and defects (microscale
) to that of a composite structure (macroscale
). This paper develops a multi-scale mechanistic approach to fatigue damage in discontinuous-fiber polymer composites. The approach accounts for the damage mechanisms in addition to the constituents' properties and characteristics. It links these micro-features to the behavior of the composite structure through a series of scale transitions using computational techniques that are based on micromechanical modeling, a thermodynamics-based formulation and finite element analysis.
Keywords:
Multiscale modeling; Fatigue; Damage; Discontinuous fiber composites; Matrix cracking; Fiber/matrix debonding