Effect of statistical correlation between ply mechanical properties on reliability of fibre reinforced plastic composite structures

Abstract

The reliability evaluation of fibre reinforced plastic composite structures are currently receiving more attention in industry. However, possible statistical correlation between ply mechanical properties has not been comprehensively concerned. The present study conducts an investigation on the effect of statistical correlation between ply mechanical properties on reliability of fibre reinforced plastic composite structures. The statistics of the ply mechanical properties are derived based on micro-mechanical model, and significant statistical correlation between ply mechanical properties is observed. Then, the failure probability of laminate plates is calculated in cases considering and not considering the statistical correlation, using the Monte Carlo and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, respectively. The results highlight the importance of accounting for the statistical correlation between ply mechanical properties to achieve accurate failure probability of laminate plates. Furthermore, it is found that for the multi-layer laminate plate, the statistical correlation between the ply stiffness (including the Poisson’s ratio) significantly affects the laminate reliability while the effect of statistical correlation between the ply strength is minimal.