A multi-scale method for predicting ABD stiffness matrix of single-ply weave-reinforced composite

Abstract

Single-ply weave-reinforced composites (SWRC) with asymmetric large textile unit cells are increasingly used in thin-walled aerospace structures because of the high specific stiffness than the plain weave-reinforced composites. The microstructural heterogeneity makes SWRC possess different tensile, flexural, shear and torsional mechanical properties, enabling the ABD stiffness matrix in classical laminate theory (CLT) to become a suitable candidate for the description of homogenized properties. As CLT is limited for SWRC, a multi-scale method to predict the homogenized ABD matrix is concentrated in the paper, and the whole process is captured through the single-ply broken twill 1/3 weave-reinforced composite. The representative volume element is generated with realistic internal geometry, and the periodic boundary conditions are extended to include the rotational degrees of freedom. The asymmetric weave architecture makes the neutral plane shift from the midplane, if this is not considered, the inaccurate coupling effects arise and the calculation error of tensile modulus reaches 35.9%. The obtained ABD matrix is macroscopically similar to those from two-ply cross-ply [0/90] laminate with only two small entries B12 and B21 in the B coupling matrix. The predicted values agree well with experimental results, and the reasonable strain distributions under various deformations are addressed thoroughly.