Computational Plane Strain Tests of Epoxy Resin Reinforced with Glass Fibers

The global industry has found great advantages in composite materials in comparison with monolithic conventional materials. Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) is widely used in the construction, aeronautics and automotive industries due to its high strength and low density. In this article, computational simulations were performed in order to analyze the behavior of four GFRP specimens or plaques with different fiber orientations and lengths. The specimens were subjected to mechanical tensile loads. A constitutive model for materials with a linear-elastic behavior was established for both fibers and resin. The mechanical properties, such as Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio, were determined for each component material, and tensile load conditions were established in order to carry out the simulations. A numerical grid of 2601 nodes was designed and the constitutive law of materials equations were solved using the Finite Difference Method (FDM). The computational implementations were executed for the 4 specimens on MATLAB. The results indicate an excellent mechanical contribution on the composite when tensile loads were applied in the same direction as the fiber orientation, while separation or delamination of the material may occur if the load is applied in a different direction. The fibers positioned in a random matter presented a more isotropic behavior. These simulations may contribute to the analysis of the behavior of different types of composite materials and facilitate testing for diverse mechanical tests, and additionally, it could help in reducing the high costs generated by experimental testing.