Strength Simulation of Woven Fabric Composite Materials with Material Nonlinearity Using Micromechanics Based Model

Abstract

The objective of the current investigation is to predict failure strength of woven composites, which considers the 2D extent of woven fabric, based on micro-mechanics. The formulation has an interface with nonlinear finite element codes. At each load increment, global stresses and strains are communicated to the representative cell and subsequently distributed to each subcell. Once stresses and strains are associated to a subcell they can be distributed to each constituent of the subcell (i.e., fill, warp, and resin). Consequently, micro-failure criteria (MFC) are defined for each constituents of a subcell and the proper stiffness degradation is modeled. Different stages of failure such as warp transverse failure, fill transverse failure, failure of pure matrix in longitudinal and shear, shear failure in fill and warp, and fiber in fill and warp in longitudinal tension are considered. Good correlation is observed between the predicted and the experimental results presented in the published literature. This material model is suitable for implicit failure analysis under static loads and is being modified for explicit finite element codes to deal with problems such as crashworthiness and impact.