Stress Distribution in Composites with Co-Phase Periodically Curved Two Neighboring Hollow Fibers

Resat Kosker and Ismail Gulten

1Department of Mathematical Engineering,Faculty of Chemistry and Metallurgy,Yildiz Technical University,Davutpasa Campus,Esenler,34220,Istanbul,Turkey

2Department of Mathematical Engineering,Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences,Yildiz Technical University,Davutpasa Campus,Esenler,34220,Istanbul,Turkey

Abstract:In this paper,stress distribution is examined in the case where infinite length co-phase periodically curved two neighboring hollow fibers are contained by an infinite elastic body.The midline of the fibers is assumed to be in the same plane.Using the three-dimensional geometric linear exact equations of the elasticity theory,research is carried out by use of the piecewise homogeneous body model.Moreover,the body is assumed to be loaded at infinity by uniformly distributed normal forces along the hollow fibers.On the inter-medium between the hollow fibers and matrix surfaces,complete cohesion conditions are satisfied.The boundary form perturbation method is used to solve the boundary value problem.In this investigation,numerical results are obtained by considering the zeroth and first approximations to calculate the self-equilibrium shear stresses and normal stress at the contact surfaces between the hollow fibers and matrix.Numerous numerical results have been obtained and interpreted about the effects of the interactions between the hollow fibers on this distribution.

Keywords:Hollow fibers;stress distribution;fibrous composite;periodic curvature

1 Introduction

Composite materials have increased in importance as they have superior properties than the materials they are made of.Today,composites have numerous application areas such as energy,sports,military,automotive,marine,aerospace,civil engineering,biomedical and even the music industry[1].Unidirectional fibrous composites have an important place among composite materials.It is very important to create a mathematical model about the elastic behavior of these materials so that they are used effectively in practice when exposed to various external influences,and to examine them theoretically.These investigations will determine the rheological,mechanical,thermal,electrical and morphological properties of the materials.For example,it has been found that fibrous composites with well-dispersed reinforcing fibers have higher electrical and thermal conductivity[1–3].

As noted in[4–6],one of the main factors that determines the strength of unidirectional fibrous composite is the fibers’curvature.Curvature can occur as a result of design or as a result of a technological process and is called periodic or local.Practical applications of these composite materials require determination of the stress-strain state considering the curl of the fibers.Selfbalanced stresses arise due to the curvature of the fibers,and these stresses can cause the fibers to separate from the matrix under uniaxial tension or stress along the fibers[5,7,8].This separation leads to the formation of macro cracks,whose accumulation can significantly alter the strength and stiffness properties of the composites[9].In addition,the initial minor curling of reinforcing fibers is taken as a model for investigating various stability loss or fracture problems of unidirectional composites[10].Therefore,creating the mechanics of composite materials containing curved structures is important both in terms of fundamental advances in the mechanics of rigid deformable bodies and in modern engineering that uses special composite components.In[11],to achieve this aim,using the three-dimensional exact equations of the elasticity theory together with the piecewise homogenous body model,a method was developed for investigating the stress-strain state produced in unidirectional fibrous composite materials.Fiber curving was considered periodic in that study.Reviews of the numerical results obtained by using this method are given in[5].

The method discussed in[11]is proposed for the case where the concentration of fibers is so small that the interactions between them are negligible.In[12],the method is developed to be used in the problem of two neighboring periodically inclined fibers,and numerical results are given taking into account the interaction between the fibers.In[13],this method is extended to the nonlinear geometric state,and from here,the numerical results obtained for stresses in a composite material containing one and two neighboring periodically inclined fibers are presented.Studies on the loss of stability problems corresponding to these conditions are reviewed in[14].In[15–18],this approach is developed for a periodically located row of fibers embedded in an infinite matrix and the obtained numerical results are presented.In[19],the stability loss of the related problem is studied.In addition,some similar studies in the local curvature case are presented in publications[20–23].

However,in all the investigations given above,it is assumed that the fibers embedded in the matrix are traditional materials.In[24],the reinforcing element is taken as a double-walled carbon nanotube(DWCNT),and the loss of internal stability in composite materials containing a straight infinitely long DWCNT is examined.In[25],the stress distribution is studied in an infinite body containing an infinite length periodically curved hollow fiber with low concentration.In this study,to calculate the effect of the interactions between the hollow fibers on the stresses,the same situation is developed for the two neighboring hollow fiber cases.The problem is the stress distribution in the infinite body containing infinite length,periodically curved two neighboring hollow fibers.The investigations are made by using the three-dimensional geometric linear exact equations of the elasticity theory with the piecewise homogeneous body model.In addition,it is assumed that uniformly distributed normal forces are acting on the body at infinity along the hollow fibers.

2 Mathematical Formulation of the Problem

Infinite length,periodically curved two neighboring hollow fibers embedded in an infinite elastic body are taken into account.We assume that the perpendicular sections of the hollow fibers are circles with radius R and thickness H and this does not change throughout the hollow fibers.We also note that the midline of the hollow fibers is in the same plane and has co-phase initial periodic tilting with respect to each other.In the aforementioned model,it is thought that there are normal forces with intensity p that are evenly distributed in the longitudinal direction of the hollow fibers.

Let us selectOmxm1xm2xm3cartesian andOmrmθmzmcylindrical coordinate sets for the centerline of each hollow fiber as the Lagrange coordinates(Fig.1).Here,m=1,2,shows the first and second hollow fibers,respectively.As can be seen from Fig.1,between these coordinates the following relations are satisfied:

Assuming that the midlines of the hollow fibers are in thex12=x22=0 plane,the equations of these lines are written as follows:

Here,Lis the bending amplitude of the hollow fibers and?is the period of bending.Assuming thatLis much smaller than?,let us define theε=L/?parameter(0<ε<<1).The degree of initial defect of the hollow fibers is characterized by this parameter.

In the following,we will show the values belonging to the first and second hollow fibers with the superscript(21)and(22),respectively and the values belonging to the matrix(infinite elastic medium)with the superscript(1).

Figure 1:Geometry and coordinate systems of the considered material structures

Let us write the following governing field equations to be satisfied in each hollow fiber and infinite elastic medium:

Let us denote the inner surface of the hollow fibers withS0k(k=1,2)and the outer surface(the contact surface with the matrix)withSk(k=1,2).We write the contact conditions below,assuming that the inner radii of the hollow fibers remain constant and that there are ideal contact conditions between the hollow fibers and the matrix.

In the case discussed,the following conditions are also provided:

Tensor notation is used in the formulae given above.We should state that the sum cannot be made according to the underlined indices.

Thus,the formulation of the addressed problem is completed.The problem is reduced to the solution of Eq.(3)within the framework of(4)contact and(5)boundary conditions.

3 Solution of the Problem

We can write the equations of the surfacesSkandS0kfrom the cross-sectional form condition of the hollow fibers.

Here,t3∈(?∞,+∞)is a parameter.Using Eq.(6)and doing some known operations,we obtain the following expressions for the components of the unit external normals ofSksurfaces:

The boundary-form perturbation method given in[5]will be used to examine this problem.According to this method,all the expressions are searched in series form in terms of the small parameter defined above.

Expressions(6)and(7)are also written serially according toε:

4 Numerical Results

In this study,the numerical results have been obtained using the zeroth and first approximations.Next approaches can only contribute quantitatively to the results.In addition,Poisson ratios are taken asν(1)=ν(2)=0.3,and the dimensionless parameterρ=R12/(R+H),which shows the contribution of the interaction of hollow fibers to the stress values,is defined.Furthermore,by examining the contribution of the parametersE=E(2)/E(1),γ1=2π(R+H)/?=α(R+H)andγ2=H/(R+H)to the stress distribution,the ratio of elasticity modulus and the effect of the thickness and radius of the hollow fibers will be calculated.While calculating the stresses,since they have maximum values,θ=0,αt3=π/2 forσnn,θ=0,αt3=0 forσneandθ=0,αt3=0 forσnτare used.

Figure 2:The graph of dependencies between σnn/|p|and(a)γ1(γ2=0.3)(b)γ2(γ1=0.5) for various values of ρ for the case where E=50,ε=0.015

Figure 3:The graph of dependencies between σnτ/|p|and(a)γ1(γ2=0.3)(b)γ2(γ1=0.5) for various values of ρ for the case where E=50,ε=0.015

Figure 4:The graph of dependencies between σne/|p|and(a)γ1(γ2=0.3)(b)γ2(γ1=0.5) for various values of ρ for the case where E=50,ε=0.015

Table 1:The stresses in γ1=0.6,γ2=0.4 and various E,ρ,ε

In Figs.2–4,the dependencies betweenσnn/|p|,σnτ/|p|,σne/|p|andγ1(a),γ2(b),respectively are given whereE=50 andε=0.015,andγ2=0.3 in(a)andγ1=0.5 in(b).According to Figs.2 and 3,as the hollow fibers approach each other,the values ofσnτ/|p|are increasing,but the absolute values ofσnn/|p|are decreasing.Although the relationship between the absolute values of these stresses and fiber thickness is monotone,the relationship between these values and the outer radius of the hollow fiber is non monotone.From Fig.4,it is observed that while the absolute value ofσne/|p|increases as the hollow fibers approach each other up to aboutγ1=0.35,these values then decrease.The same change exists between the fiber thickness and the absolute values ofσne/|p|.In this case,the change occurs aroundγ2=0.12.In addition,it is seen that theσnτ/|p|shear stress values,as absolute values,are higher than the other stress values.According to these results,attention should be paid to theσnτ/|p|shear stress.

With the increase of the distance between the hollow fibers,the interaction between the fibers disappears and thus the same values are reached with the stress values obtained in case[25].This shows the accuracy of both the algorithms used and the programming made by the authors with the FTN77 programming language.

In Tab.1,the values ofσnn/|p|,σnτ/|p| andσne/|p| are given forγ1= 0.6,γ2= 0.4 and variousE,ρ,ε.From this table,it is seen that the values of the stresses are increasing with the parametersεandEwhich define the degree of defect and modulus of elasticity ratio,respectively.Also,whenγ1=0.6,γ2=0.4,as the hollow fibers approach each other,the values ofσnn/|p|and the absolute values ofσne/|p|decrease,but the absolute values ofσnτ/|p|increase.

Tab.2 shows how the values of the stresses converge with the number of equations whereE=50,γ1=0.6,γ2=0.4,ρ=2.1,ε=0.015.From this,it is seen that 186 equations are sufficient for convergence,and therefore,all values are calculated according to this number of equations.

Table 2:Convergence of the values of the stresses with the number of equations where E =50,γ1=0.6,γ2=0.4,ρ=2.1,ε=0.015

5 Conclusions

In this study,the normal and shear stresses at the fiber-matrix interface are studied in the case of two neighboring hollow fibers with infinite length(at least ten times the bending amplitude)with the same phase periodic curvature embedded in an infinite elastic medium.It is thought that the object in question has uniformly distributed normal forces acting along the hollow fibers at infinity,and the midlines which pass through the centers of the fibers have the same plane and phase curvature.The case in which the thicknesses and outer radii of the fibers are the same and where these values do not change along the fibers is discussed.The hollow fibers may be close to each other,but they do not come into contact.The research has been carried out using the piecewise-homogeneous body model and the three-dimensional geometric linear exact equations of elasticity theory.Thus,it is aimed to obtain better quality results than the numerical results obtained using approximate theories.

Within the framework of the above assumptions,the governing field equations provided separately in the hollow fibers and in the matrix are written in accordance with the piecewisehomogeneous body model.Added to these are the conditions provided by the inner surfaces of the fibers and the ideal contact conditions provided at the surfaces where the fibers come into contact with the matrix.Thus,the problem has been formulated as a boundary-value problem which has been solved by using the boundary form perturbation method.According to this method,all expressions related to the surface equations,hollow fibers and matrix are serialized in terms of the small parameter defining the bending degree of the fibers.When these series are used in the governing field equations and boundary conditions,the boundary-value problems provided separately for each approach are obtained.Naturally,the k-th boundary-value problem includes the magnitudes of the previous boundary value problems.Numerical results have been obtained by solving the boundary value problems of the zeroth and first approach.Since the solution of the boundary value problems belonging to the next approaches will affect the numerical results only quantitatively,and not qualitatively,the solutions up to the first approach are considered to be sufficient.With some simple assumptions,the boundary-value problem of the zeroth approach can be solved analytically,while the solution of the boundary-value problem of the first approach is brought to the infinite system of algebraic equations.It has been shown that this infinite system of algebraic equations can be replaced by a finite one by using the convergence criterion.Numerical results are produced by taking a sufficient number of equations according to this criterion.

The obtained numerical results consist of the calculations made at the points where the normal stress ofσnnand the values ofσnτandσneshear stresses are maximum.Dimensionless parameters related to the distance between the hollow fibers,the ratio of elasticity constants and fiber bending amplitude are defined,and the effects of these parameters on the stresses are discussed.Accordingly,the following conclusions have been made:

?The relationship between theσnnnormal stress and the inner radius of the hollow fibers is non-monotone.In addition,as the fibers approach each other,the values of theσnnnormal stress decrease.

?The relationship between theσnτshear stress and the inner radius of the hollow fibers is also non-monotone.However,as the fibers approach each other,the absolute values of theσnτshear stress increase.This increase is remarkable.

?The relationship between theσneshear stress and the inner radius of the hollow fibers is also non-monotone.However,the approach of the hollow fibers to each other increases the absolute values of these stress values up to a certain value of the inner radius of the fiber and decreases after this value.

?The relationship between the stresses under consideration and the thickness of the hollow fibers is monotone.

?The increase in the bending degree and in the ratio of elasticity constants increases the values of the stresses as absolute values.

?The numerical results obtained when the distance between the hollow fibers is increased so that there is no interaction between them,coincides with those obtained in[25].In addition,the numerical results obtained by taking the inner space of fibers to zero are consistent with the results of[12],in which problem the fibers are filled.This demonstrates the accuracy of the numerical results.

The numerical results obtained should be taken into account in the production of materials which have the properties discussed here,when used as structural elements.In addition,for certain values of the parameters(given in[24]),instead of hollow fibers,carbon nanotubes can be considered,and stress distribution and stability problems can be examined.

Funding Statement:This research has been supported by Yildiz Technical University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Department.Project Number:2014-07-03-DOP01.

Conflicts of Interest:The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to report regarding the present study.