Microscopic approaches for understanding the mechanical behaviour of reinforcement in composites

TL;DR

This paper presents a finite element simulation approach to analyze the mechanical behavior of textile composite reinforcements at the fiber scale, accounting for contact-friction interactions to predict properties under different loadings.

Contribution

It introduces an efficient implicit finite element method that models fiber interactions and initial configurations in woven textile composites.

Findings

Successfully models woven textile composites with hundreds of fibers

Determines initial fiber configurations for mechanical analysis

Predicts mechanical properties under various loadings

Abstract

An approach to the mechanical behaviour of textile composites at the scale of their constituting fibres, using an implicit finite element simulation code, is proposed in this chapter. The approach is based on efficient methods and algorithms to detect and take into account contact-friction interactions between elementary fibres. It allows one to model samples of woven textile composites made of a few hundreds of fibres, with an elastic matrix. The approach is employed first to determine the initial configuration of woven fabric samples, before applying to them various loadings in order to identify their mechanical properties under various solicitations