Stress Concentrations Near a Discontinuity in Fibrous Composites

Abstract

Stress concentration factors are defined for the fiber and matrix in an axially loaded unidirectional composite which has a discontinuous fiber Effects of variations in fiber volume fraction, end-gap size, and modulus ratio are studied by using a linearly elastic finite-element analysis Results show that the fiber stress concentration factors reach a maximum value of 1.5 and then remain relatively unchanged The matrix stress concentration factors, however, are shown to increase rapidly with decreasing end-gap size and increasing modulus ratio.