Kriging‐based orthotropic closure for flow‐induced fiber orientation and the part stiffness predictions with experimental investigation

This study employs a new Kriging‐based orthotropic closure (KRI) and several current closures to solve the second‐order orientation tensor equation of motion, and the differences between closures and orientation distribution function calculation (DFC) are firstly compared by a new developed error metric. The mechanical properties of an injection molded short fiber reinforced composite directly depend on the orientation of fibers, the Halpin–Tsai and Tandon–Weng mechanical models are considered to evaluate the accuracy of the closures on stiffness predictions, quantitative comparisons between the numerical simulations and the experimental result are carried out for 30% weight fractions of short carbon fiber/poly ether ether ketone (PEEK) matrix composite. It is observed that the result of sequential KRI closure is in good agreement with the experimental data. The KRI closure is shown to be far more accurate than Hybrid closure and also performs better than orthotropic and natural closures. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:3844–3856, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers