Estimating engineering constants of woven textile composite using geometric model

Abstract

This article deals with a simple geometric model of fiber-reinforced plastic composite (FRP composite). The composite uses an epoxy resin as the matrix and one layer of a plain weave E-Glass fabric as the reinforcement. Using theoretical considerations (on the basis of this model), it is feasible to calculate basic mechanical parameters useful for stress analysis. Such considerations and methods for calculating will be presented in this paper. The work consists in developing constitutive model of specific textile composite material – presently plain weave. There is a numerical constitutive model which approximates the mechanical behavior at the local scale. All results in this paper have been obtained using computer program created in Mathematica environment. The geometric model is based on the model of R.A. Naik, however, the validity and limitations are studied carefully. The method of calculation presented in this article can be applied to other weave patterns of FRP composites with other woven fabric geometries such as: Pierce’s model of plain weave, Pierce’s elliptic model, Kemp model with race track cross-section, and Hearle’s model.