A parametric study of fiber volume fraction distribution on the failure initiation location in open hole off-axis tensile specimen

We present a model to study the effect of the spatial distributions in fiber volume fraction on the failure initiation location in the open hole off-axis tensile. These variations are introduced with a micromechanical enhancement dehomogenization process. Good agreement is obtained between our predicted failure locations and experimental results by considering a failure criterion based on the effective shear strain in the matrix. The predicted failure angle distribution is in good agreement with the experimental results when the variability in the fiber volume fraction is included in the simulations. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.