Failure limits of continuous carbon fibre reinforced plastics loaded with fibre parallel compression

The strength analysis of continuous fibre reinforced plastics has to consider the reactions of the heterogeneous composite material. Ample uncertainties exist in the evaluation of fibre parallel compressive load, because no computation model has yet accomplished acceptance which on the one hand is physically fundamentally feasible and on the other hand works on the macroscopical level of the common design process. This paper deals with the combination of a physically based failure model and a suitable modelling of the complex elastic properties. The results of this model combination are overall plausible. Additionally, experimental data confirm that moderate fibre transverse compression leads to an increase in the fibre parallel compressive strength.