COMPARING MORI-TANAKA METHOD AND FIRST-ORDER HOMOGENIZATION SCHEME IN THE VISCOELASTIC MODELING OF UNIDIRECTIONAL FIBROUS COMPOSITES

Abstract

A comparative study of the viscous response of polymer matrix based fibrous composites predicted by the Mori-Tanaka method and finite element simulations based on the 1st order homogenization theory is presented. Aligned basalt and carbon fibers embedded into a polymeric matrix are considered to represent a quasi isotropic and transversely isotropic two-phase systems. While differences in the prediction of the macroscopic elastic response are attributed merely to the properties of the fiber phase, the viscoelastic behavior is largely affected by the selected homogenization method. A stiffer response predicted by the Mori-Tanaka method for both creep and relaxation tests is observed for both material systems and supports similar finding found in the literature. Thus suitable modifications of the original formulation of such two-point averaging schemes are needed for them to be applicable in the multi-scale modeling of generally anisotropic yarns in plane weave textile composites.