Micromechanics Based Finite Element Analysis of Effective Elastic Properties of Natural Fiber Reinforced Composites

Abstract

For seamless use of natural fiber-reinforced composites (NFRCs) in the industry, it is essential to evaluate the elastic characteristics of NFRCs. In the present work, a finite element (FE) analysis has been done in ABAQUS for finding the effective elastic properties of the NFRCs. A comparative study of the effectiveness of different micromechanical models for assessing the effective properties of NFRCs has been discussed. The findings of the FE analysis have been compared to the effective properties obtained from the micromechanical models. It is observed that the elastic properties obtained through FE analysis are found to be in accordance with the elastic properties computed using different micromechanical models. Further, an error analysis method (Root mean squared scaled error) has been employed to quantify the results obtained from other micromechanical models and choose the most suitable model for each elastic property. There is no unified model for all the elastic properties over the varying fiber volume fraction; it is specific for a particular elastic property and fiber volume fraction.

Keywords

• natural fiber
• composites
• micromechanical modeling
• finite element analysis
• elastic properties
• root mean squared scaled error