Stress and Failure Analysis of Woven Composites Using an Automated Conformal Mesh Method

This paper presents a progressive damage modeling study to investigate the damage and failure behaviors of woven composites using an automated structured conformal meshing model developed by the authors. The composite domain consists of two materials: yarns and matrix. Yarns impregnated by matrix are considered to be homogenous and transversely isotropic. Each yarn element has its local coordinate system oriented according to the yarn’s centroid path. Properties of yarn are obtained using a micromechanics-based homogenization method. The matrix is considered to be homogenous and isotropic. Maximum stress is used as the damage initiation criteria under tensile loading. Damage evolution is governed by the material property degradation method. The meshing algorithm is based on a realistic micro-geometry generated using the Digital Fabric Mechanics Analyzer (DFMA), and thus is applicable to a wide variety of woven architectures. Numerical damage predictions are discussed and compared with previous numerical studies and experimental data to support the validity of the proposed model.