Probabilistic failure assessment of Fibreglass composites

•The failure behaviour of short fibre-reinforced materials is analysed.•The approach employed is the Generalised Probabilistic Approach (GPA)•An experimental campaign is performed on a Fibreglass composite.•The Primary Cumulative Distribution Function of Failure (PCDFF) is determined by GPA.•A comparison between experimental failure probability values and PCDFF is provided.

In this paper, the Generalised Probabilistic Approach (GPA) recently proposed by some of the present authors is applied in order to analyse the short fibre-reinforced materials behaviour at failure. Firstly, an experimental campaign consisting of tension tests, three- and four-point bending tests is carried out on a commercial Fibreglass composite. Then, the Primary Cumulative Distribution Function of Failure (PCDFF) is determined by employing both experimental and numerical results. In particular, the PCDFF is derived in two cases: (a) by considering the specimens subjected to the above three loading conditions separately (GPA single application); (b) by collecting both the specimens subjected to tension and those subjected to three-point bending in order to constitute a unique set (GPA joint application). Finally, a comparison between experimental failure probability values and PCDFF, being the latter obtained from both single and joint application of GPA, is provided for each loading condition.