Simulation of tensile behavior of plant fibers using the Discrete Element Method (DEM)

Tensile behaviors of plant fibers significantly affect mechanical performance of the fiber reinforced composites. A numerical model was developed to simulate the tensile behavior of a plant fiber using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). The model fiber was constructed with spherical particles bonded together. The model outputs were tensile strength (sigma(macro)) and Young's modulus (E-macro) of fiber. Tensile tests were conducted to measure these two properties of hemp fiber to calibrate model micro-parameters. Simulation results showed that the most influential micro-parameters were micro-strength of the bond (sigma(micro)) and Young's modulus of particles (E-micro). The following relationships were found: sigma(micro) = 1.89 sigma(macro) and E-micro = 0.99 E-macro. Using the tensile test data of hemp fiber, the calibrated values were 721.81 MPa for sigma(micro) and 19.50 GPa for E-micro. With the results from this study, the micro-parameters can be determined for DE modeling of any plant fibers, such as flax and Jute.