Open Access

ARTICLE

Numerical Study of Polymer Composites in Contact

by L. Rodríguez-Tembleque¹, A. Sáez¹, F.C. Buroni¹

1 Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería, Universidad de Sevilla, Camino de los Descubrimientos s/n , Sevilla E-41092, Spain. (email: luisroteso@us.es)

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2013, 96(2), 131-158. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2013.096.131

Abstract

A boundary element based formulation is applied to study numerically the tribological behavior of fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) under different frictional contact conditions, taking into account the micromechanics of FRP. Micromechanical models presented consider continuous and short fiber reinforced plastics configurations. The Boundary Element Method (BEM) with an explicit approach for fundamental solutions evaluation is considered for computing the elastic influence coefficients. Signorini’s contact conditions and an orthotropic law of friction on the potential contact zone are enforced by contact operators over the augmented Lagrangian. The proposed methodology is applied to study carbon FRP under frictional contact. The obtained numerical results illustrate how the fiber orientation, fiber volume fraction, fiber length and sliding orientation affect the normal and tangential contact compliance, as well as the contact traction distribution.

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