Bv. Sankar et Rv. Marrey, A UNIT-CELL MODEL OF TEXTILE COMPOSITE BEAMS FOR PREDICTING STIFFNESSPROPERTIES, Composites science and technology, 49(1), 1993, pp. 61-69
Flexural stiffness properties of a textile composite beam are obtained
from a finite-element model of the unit cell. Three linearly independ
ent deformations, namely, pure extension, pure bending and pure shear,
are applied to the unit cell. The top and bottom surfaces of the beam
are assumed to be traction free. Periodic boundary conditions on the
lateral boundaries of the unit cell are enforced by multi-point constr
aint elements. From the forces acting on the unit cell, the flexural s
tiffness coefficients of the composite beam are obtained. The difficul
ties in determining the transverse shear stiffness are discussed, and
a modified approach is presented. The methods are first verified by ap
plying them to isotropic and bimaterial beams for which the results ar
e known, and then illustrated for a simple plain-weave textile composi
te.