Evaluation of second-order correlations adjusted with simulated annealing on physical properties of unidirectional nonoverlapping fiber-reinforced materials (UD Composites)

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on aligned fiber-reinforced composites, where fiber centers were randomly distributed in their cross-sections. The volume fractions of fibers were [Formula: see text]% and [Formula: see text]%. Samples were built with the help of the simulated annealing technique according to the chosen Radial Distribution Functions (RDFs). For each sample, the fields of local stresses and heat fluxes were simulated by finite element method. Then, homogenization by volume averaging was performed in order to investigate both the effective mechanical and thermal properties. The effect of RDF shape on elastic and thermal properties was quantified along with the influence of the probability of near neighbors of fibers on the physical properties. The more the fiber distributions deviate from Poisson’s Law, the higher the results compared to the lower bound of Hashin–Shtrikman.