FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF GEOMETRICALLY NONLINEAR BEHAVIOR OF SHORT FIBER REINFORCED COMPOSITES

The objective of this paper is to present an extension of the Projected Fiber (PF) approach [1] for the analysis of geometric nonlinear behaviour of short fiber reinforced composites based on the Total Lagrangian formulation. The PF approach takes into account the random distribution of short fibers within the matrix as well as the geometry and mechanical properties of the composite components. The resin matrix is modelled with classical membrane triangular elements while truss elements are used to model short fibers. To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed nonlinear PF approach, an assessment test is presented and the obtained results show that this approach allows a correct prediction of the studied composite structure nonlinear behaviour.