Simulation Based Determination of the Mechanical Properties of Fiber-Matrix Composite Materials Taking Production-Related Scattering into Account

The presented study deals with the computational determination of the mechanical properties of fiber-plastic composites under quasi-static loading. Based on the basic mechanical parameters of fiber and matrix materials as well as the manufacturing-related scattering, the characteristic values of unidirectional and multidirectional laminates are determined. For unidirectional laminates the scattering of mechanical properties is derived by using the principles of classical laminate theory in combination with Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). By using appropriate analytical formulas for stiffness and strength parameters it is possible to calculate average properties as well as statistical parameters like standard deviations. This procedure has been extended for simulation of multidirectional laminates by finite element simulation. A modification of the MCS was used to calculate the elastic properties including the scattering of various multidirectional laminates. The simulation results are compared to experimental results documented in [1] and [2] and carried out at IABG test laboratory.