Evaluation of Tensile Strength of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites: A Numerical and Experimental Investigation

Abstract

Considering the widespread use of polymer composites in different engineering and structural applications, it is imperative to predict their strength properties in order to recommend their use in the workplaces. Numerical method using concept of finite element, finite difference etc. have proven as effective tools for such estimation bypassing experimental trials that are usually expensive and time consuming. In view of this, the present work is taken up to find out tensile strength of multilayered glass-epoxy composites under different loading conditions by numerical method using a commercial software ANSYS 22.0. For validation purpose, glass fiber reinforced epoxy composite specimens of similar compositions are fabricated by hand layup route and are then subjected to tensile test. It is found that results obtained from numerical analysis are in good agreement with the experimental values. It is expected that this analysis can be further extended not only to other fiber-polymer systems but also to estimate some other properties such as flexural, impact and inter-laminar shear strength.