A Novel Micromechanical Model Based on the Rule of Mixtures to Estimate Effective Elastic Properties of Circular Fiber Composites

This paper proposes a novel model to estimate the effective elastic properties of unidirectional composites with circular cross section fibers: VSPKc. Finite element method (FEM) and experimental data are employed as reference solutions in order to verify the model capability to estimate the elastic properties. Experimental data considers a set of 126 tests compiled from the literature. In addition, predictions of two alternative analytical models are evaluated to highlight the advantages of the proposed model: the classical Rule of Mixtures (ROM) and a ROM-based model with octagonal cross section fibers. Results show that the VSPKc model presents the best estimations compared with either FEM or experimental data. The novel model highlights the importance of considering the fiber geometry on the estimation of elastic properties and establishes a simple set of closed-form formulas.