Micro and mesomechanics of fibre reinforced composites using mean field homogenization formulations: A review

Abstract

Efficient deployment of composites necessitates robust modelling approaches for homogenization and micromechanics calculations. Mean field homogenization (MFH) methods are a class of versatile and accurate methods used for analysis of different types of composites varying from unidirectional composites to textile composites to short fibre reinforced composites to nano-tube reinforced composites. Micro and meso-mechanics of composites using MFH methods involves transformation of fibre architecture to assembly of ellipsoid inclusions, homogenization of the transformed RVE by making suitable simplifications about interactions between inclusions, and localization of stresses leading to damage/defect modelling. An in-depth review of the three steps for composites with varied reinforcement architecture including continuous straight, discontinuous short, discontinuous curved or wavy (including nano-tubes), textile and fibres with imperfect interphases reinforcements is presented.