FEA of textiles and textile composites: A gallery

Meso-scale finite element modelling of textiles and textile composites (scale of the unit cell of the textile structure) is a powerful tool for homogenisation of mechanical properties, study of stress-strain fields inside the unit cell, determination of damage initiation conditions and sites and simulation of damage development and associated deterioration of the homogenised mechanical properties of the composite. The paper presents a gallery of cases of such a modelling, discussing issues of building finite element models of textile structures (geometry, meshing, boundary conditions), of interpretation of the results (homogenization, damage initiation criterion, damage propagation) and of verification of the models. The following cases are considered: x Composites reinforced by 2D woven fabrics: validation of FE modeling using full-field strain measurements x 3-axial braided composites: building of an adequate geometry and mesh, boundary conditions for 1⁄4 of the unit cell, damage initiation and propagation x Structurally stitched thick woven composite: interaction of the stitching with the “body” of the plate x Knitted fabrics made of shape memory alloy wires: hyperelastic material behaviour, contacts and slipping of the wires All the cases are supported by comparison with experimental data.