Computational potentialities of the Finite Elements Method for the Modeling and Simulation of Composite Materials: A review

This work presents a review of computational models that use the Finite Elements Method (FEM) for the study of composite materials mechanical behavior, focusing the analysis in materials reinforced by particles or fibers. Bibliographic analysis shows that using FEM it is possible to successfully estimate the effect on the composites mechanical properties, of parameters such as the reinforcement type, volumetric fraction, orientation, aspect ratio and size. This review showed that the most studied property is Young´s modulus, as well as the models that favor the geometry decrease using the computational advantages. Future work that needs attention is addressed.

Finite Elements Method; FEM; composites; reinforcement; modeling; simulation