Mechanical properties characterization of fiber reinforced composites by nonlinear constitutive parameter optimization in short beam shear specimens

Abstract

This work presents a novel approach to quantify the nonlinear shear stress-strain behavior of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites without finite element stress calculation. Full-field noncontact deformation measurements using Digital Image Correlation are used to measure surface strains in Short Beam Shear IM7/8552 specimens. The presented spline-based optimization technique solves the inverse problem of generating both axial and shear stress-strain curves without ad hoc assumptions on the material model. Accuracy of the analysis method was verified by finite element analysis (FEA). This method improves on available closed-form and iterative FEA based solutions due to flexibility and accuracy without the computational expense.