Reliability model of drilled composite materials

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.