An assessment of micromechanical models to predict the elastic constants of unidirectional polymer composites

The accuracy of existent closed-form micromechanical models to predict the five independent elastic constants of unidirectional fiber reinforced composites is assessed. A finite element model is developed to serve as a reference, properly benchmarked against other numerical models and published experimental data, and then used as a baseline for comparison. The detailed numerical analysis of the existent micromechanical models using a formal statistical metric for error quantification allows a quantitative assessment of these models, providing recommendations for the most suited model(s) for each material constant.