Analysis of crack-tip stress field in unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites based on 3D micromechanical model

Accurately clarifying the influence of cracks on the mechanical behaviors of unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites (UD FRCs) is of great significance for the structural integrity evaluation of UD FRCs with defects. Although several experiments and numerical analyses have explored the impact of cracks on stress field, satisfactory quantitative characterizations of crack size, a/W and location, Δ, fiber content, Vf have not yet been obtained. In this paper, the accurate and detailed microscopic models containing crack were first established and thoroughly validated. Then, a parametric study was conducted using three-dimensional micromechanical analysis to investigate how the crack size and location, fiber content affect the stress (von Mises, stress triaxiality, and Lode angle) and J-integral of UD FRCs. Results showed that homogeneous models, whether isotropic or anisotropic, cannot accurately describe the mechanical behavior of cracked UD FRCs. The von Mises stress and J-integral are greatly influenced by the crack and fiber content, while stress triaxiality and Lode angle are not sensitive to changes in these factors. Further, the von Mises and J-integral increase with the decrease of Vf and the increase of a/W, but show a more complex trend in the variation of Δ. These findings will help clarify the failure mechanism of cracked UD FRCs and can be used for reliability evaluation.