A review on stochastic multiscale analysis for FRP composite structures

Abstract

Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been increasingly applied in engineering structures especially for achieving high demands on structural performance, but they are susceptible to variations in material properties, geometry parameters, etc. mainly arising from manufacturing processes. Due to these uncertainties, FRP structures are usually adopted conservative designs. In order to fully explore the merits of FRP composites, it is therefore of paramount importance to understand and quantify uncertainties in FRP composite structures. Although there are mainly studies on uncertainty quantification for FRP structures, there is a lack of a systematic review. The present study intends to provide a comprehensive review on multiscale uncertainty quantification techniques from the following three aspects: (1) the source of uncertainty: uncertainties induced by manufacturing defects are presented and their influences on the mechanical properties of composite materials are analysed; (2) the prediction of the effective material properties with uncertainties: probabilistic homogenization methods used to propagate uncertainties from microscale to macroscale are described, and influences of microscale uncertainties on the effective material properties are discussed; (3) the probabilistic structural analysis: methods for static analysis, dynamic analysis, buckling stability analysis and reliability analysis with considerations of multiscale uncertainties are presented.