Anisotropic effective moduli of cracked short-fiber reinforced composites

A model is presented to analyze the effect of fiber fracture on the anisotr opic elastic properties of short-fiber reinforced composite materials. The effective moduli of the material are modeled using a self-consistent scheme which includes the calculated energy dissipated through the opening of a c rack in an arbitrarily oriented elliptical inclusion. The model is an exten sion of previous works which have modeled isotropic properties of short-fib er reinforced composites with fiber breakage and anisotropic properties of monolithic materials with microcracks. Two-dimensional planar composite sys tems are considered. The model allows for the calculation of moduli under v arying degrees of fiber alignment and damage orientation. In the results, b oth aligned fiber systems and randomly oriented fiber systems with damage-i nduced anisotropy are examined.