Modelling the geometry of the unit cell of woven fabrics with integrated stiffener sections

Abstract

Composite-stiffened panels of naval and aerospace applications are under the risk of delamination due to the lack of reinforcement at the joints of panel and stiffener section. One of the sustainable remedy to overcome such problems is to use 3D woven performs as a reinforcement. The benefit of 3D weaving is its intricate weave architecture and its ability to create near net shaped preforms for structural reinforcements. The technique provides endless permutations and combinations for weave design, however, repeat unit cell is the common factor that represents the complete weave architecture of the fabric. The behavior of the unit cell represents the behavior of the composite as a whole. The work presented in this paper details on the geometrical representation of an unit cell of woven stiffener fabrics and formulation of a modeling approach to determine its total weight and Fiber Volume Fraction. In this work, woven fabrics with integrated stiffener sections of four different configurations were produced using modified face-to-face (terry) weaving principle and their geometrical parameters were formulated through the modeling approach. The computed results from the models show close approximation with experimental values thus justifying the prediction of performance through them.