Multi-Scale Modeling and Analysis of Three-Dimensional Woven Composites Shell with Cut-Outs

Abstract

Advancement in weaving techniques has made woven composites used in the diverse fields of aerospace, automobile, and many more. In the past few decades, textile composites have been considered the best materials, where most of the studies are focused on plain woven composites. The designing of these structures made up of plain-woven composites associated with discontinuities in the form of cut-outs may lead to the failure of the structure. The collapse in the structure will be due to stress concentration or popularly known as stress raisers. Therefore, this research proposes a numerical study based on finite element analysis (FEA) using a multi-scale modeling approach for a three-dimensional (3D) plain-woven composite 3D shell with varied cut-out shapes. The analysis is performed to comprehend the result of fiber orientation on the mechanical behavior of 3D woven composites having circular and elliptical cut-outs. This research proposes a ply stacking sequence that significantly reduces stress concentration primarily at interruptions in the structure. It is concluded that combining different ply layers having fiber orientation of [Formula: see text] in a multilayer composite 3D shell reduces stress concentration around the periphery of circular or elliptical cut-outs.