LOCALIZED LOAD-SHARING RULES AND MARKOV-WEIBULL FIBERS - A COMPARISONOF MICROCOMPOSITE FAILURE DATA WITH MONTE-CARLO SIMULATIONS

Monte Carlo simulations are compared with strength data from carbon fi bers and composites made from similar fibers, in order to investigate several issues concerning the failure of fibrous composite materials u nder tensile load. Failure of ''bundles'' consisting of up to 1000 fib ers under several different localized load-sharing rules and two diffe rent models for fiber strength is simulated, and the chain-of-bundles model is used to simulate tows of varying gauge lengths. The relations hips of composite strength, Weibull shape inflation and ineffective le ngth are investigated for the new models. The issues of volume effects and critical crack growth are also discussed.