A Sensitivity Analysis of Water Absorption Parameters of Theobroma Cacao L. Reinforced Epoxy Composites
Cocoa pod husk composites for structural applications face a substantial water absorption problem in which the residual tensile, fatigue, and flexural characteristics always exhibit instant deterioration after immersion in water. Unfortunately, there is an absence of sensitivity analysis research on the composite’s water absorption parameters to establish the crucial parameters that may function as drawbacks. Consequently, this study establishes how the sensitivity analysis of the Fickian’s model parameters can be measured using single and joint parametric variations in the water absorbed at saturation, interactive indicator and the response indicator between patterns using experimental data and literature sources. Results revealed that the most sensitive case study was obtained when the response indicator between patterns was varied with the absorbed quantity in time, accounting for 95.24 % (20 out of 21 cases). Accordingly, composite engineers and designers should use the most sensitive parameter to control design features.