Finite Elements Modeling of Randomly Oriented Short Fiber-Reinforced Composite Materials

Randomly oriented short fiber-reinforced composite materials are getting more and more popular due to its manufacturing simplicity and low cost compared with conventional continuous fiber-reinforced composites. Because of the randomization in fiber orientations, it is relatively difficult to simplify and establish its material model for analytically predicting material properties. Therefore, it is important to have a numerical approach to generate computational models and perform analyses. Finite Element (FE) modeling is the most widely and commercially applied modeling technique. It is now a vital and irreplaceable tool in many industries such as automotive, aerospace, defense, consumer products, architecture and many others. This present work demonstrates a FE modeling approach of a Representative Volume Element (RVE) for short fiber-reinforced material. The RVE consists heterogeneous micro-structures for fiber and matrix individually, it is meshed with first-order tetrahedral element. Periodic boundary conditions are applied on the lateral surfaces of RVE in the numerical implementation so that the effective material properties can be obtained.