Comparative study of predictive methods for woven fabric composite elastic properties

Several methods used to predict the elastic properties of woven fabric composite materials are compared and a new one is presented. The compared methods are the method of cells and the four-cell method presented earlier by the principle author and the three-dimensional finite element method. The new method is a simplified version of the method of cells for woven composites. The four-cell method and the simplified method of cells are the most computationally efficient method as compared to other methods. Specifically, the four-cell method can directly be used in finite element codes to predict structural behavior of components mode of woven composites. Where as the local/global finite element/finite element procedure is very costly which prohibits using it in structural analysis of woven composites. Numerical results are generated for engineering constants by the considered methods and compared to each other. Good agreements are obtained using the presented new method with respect to the other methods of cells and the finite element results.