Abstract
To solve the microstructure-related complexity of a three-dimensional textile composite, a novel equivalent model was established based on the variational asymptotic method. The constitutive modeling of 3D unit cell within the plate was performed to obtain the equivalent stiffness, which can be inputted into the 2D equivalent model (2D-EPM) to perform the bending, free-vibration and buckling analysis. The correctness and effectiveness of the 2D-EPM was validated by comparing with the results from 3D FE model (3D-FEM) under various conditions. The influence of yarn width and spacing on the equivalent stiffness was also discussed. Finally, the effective performances of 3D textile composite plate and 2D plain-woven laminate with the same thickness and yarn content were compared. The results revealed that the bending, buckling and free-vibration behaviors predicted by 2D-EPM were in good agreement with 3D-FEM, and the local field distributions within the unit cell of 3D textile composite plate were well captured. Compared with the 2D plain-woven laminate, the displacement of 3D textile composite plate was relatively larger under the uniform load, which may due to the fact that the through-the-thickness constrains of the former are only dependent on the binder yarns, while the warp yarns and weft yarns of the latter are intertwined closely.
Highlights
In recent years, composite structures are more and more widely used as load-bearing structures [1,2,3,4]
The first buckling modes predicted by the two models are nearly identical, and the maximum error of the buckling load is only 2.69%, which verifies the accuracy of 2D equivalent plat model (2D-EPM) in buckling analysis of 3D textile composite plate (3D-TCP) under different conditions
The following conclusions can be obtained: (1) The maximum errors of bending displacement and buckling load between 3DFEM and 2D-EPM are within the range of engineering accuracy, and the displacement distributions along the analysis path predicted by two models have the same trend with small differences
Summary
Composite structures are more and more widely used as load-bearing structures [1,2,3,4]. A variety of analytical models have been used to study the mechanical characteristics of 3D braided composites, including fabric geometry model [7], fiber inclination model [8], three cell model [9], mixed volume averaging technique [10], and Mori-Tanaka theories combined with stiffness averaging method [11]. Using the stiffness volume average method and Tsai-Wu polynomial failure criterion, Jiang et al [17] presented a theoretical model based on the helix geometry unit cell for prediction of the effective elastic constants and the failure strength of 3D braided composites under uniaxial load. Utilizing experimental and analytical models to examine the mechanical characteristics of a laminated composite plate is practical and efficient [18], many studies employed numerical approaches to investigate the 3D textile composites [19,20,21]. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this technique has never been used to predict the bending, buckling, and free-vibration behaviors of 3D-TCP
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