Dependency of Statistical Correlation between Ply Elastic Properties of FRP

Abstract

Statistical correlation between ply (or lamina) mechanical properties is recently recognized as an important factor in composite structure reliability evaluation. This work provides a sensitivity analysis of stochastic variation of ply elastic properties to constitutional material (microscale) properties to reveal essential causes of the statistical correlation. Relationship between linear correlation coefficients of ply elastic properties and microscale uncertainty is derived. It is shown that if the microscale uncertainty is dominated by the uncertainty of FVR, there would be great statistical correlation between all ply in-plane elastic properties for both unidirectional and plain-weave fibre reinforced composite. Statistical correlation between ply elastic properties of plain-weave fibre reinforced composite additionally depends on the uncertainty level of unit-cell geometry.