Reliability model of drilled composite materials

Abstract Recent studies by the authors have investigated the influence of the quality of the drilling on the fatigue behaviour of composites. From microscopical observations, a three-dimensional criterion using the Hashin’s theory has been established. It predicted well which component (fiber or matrix) has been damaged first. Firstly, a Monte Carlo technique considering the angles uncertainty of the different layers of a laminated composite was used to predict the statistical distributions of its mechanical properties. Secondly, a statistical distribution has been affected to each variable of the Hashin’s criterion in order to obtain a probability of failure rather than a deterministic value (less or equal to 1). Thus, it is possible to affect at any value of the criterion a probability.