Analysis of FRP composites under frictional contact conditions

This work studies numerically the tribological behavior of fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) under different frictional contact conditions, using a boundary element methodology. The formulation uses the Boundary Element Method (BEM) with an explicit approach for fundamental solutions evaluation, for computing the elastic influence coefficients. To enforce the contact constraints on the potential contact zone: Signorini’s contact conditions and an orthotropic law of friction, contact operators over the augmented Lagrangian are considered in the formulation. The methodology and the proposed algorithm are applied to study two types of glass FRP and two types of carbon FRP, with the same fiber volume fraction, under frictional contact. In these studies, it can be observed how the fiber orientation and sliding orientation affect the normal and tangential contact compliance, as well as the contact traction distribution. Furthermore, the formulation considers a micromechanics model for FRP that allows also to study the influence of fiber volume fraction on normal and tangential contact compliances.