Analytical study of morphologies for ultra high elastic stiffness of composites with aligned cylindrical fibers

This paper is to develop a micromechanics-based model on predicting the effective transverse stiffness of composites reinforced with periodically dispersed cylindrical fibers. Six types of packing patterns are analyzed and their morphology characteristics are accounted for by Green's function. It is noted that fiber packing configuration plays a great effect on the effective elasticity. The developed analytical model is assessed by the available FEM computations, and illustrates the dependence of the equivalent stiffness on the periodic microstructures. Additionally, it should be noted that the present model can be used to study some important issues, e.g. damage variables, matrix plasticity and so on.