Woven fabric composites - part I: Predictions of homogenized elastic properties and micromechanical damage analysis

In Part 1, the finite element developments are described to first predict t he homogenized elastic properties of woven fabric composites, followed by a progressive damage analysis for the subsequent investigation of micromecha nical damage initiations and propagations in the representative unit cell o f woven fabric composites. For progressive damage analysis, in-plane uniaxi al tensile and shear loading are applied, respectively, to the unit cell. I n order to make the boundaries of the unit cell remain straight, displaceme nt control loading is applied instead of force control loading. The tensile and sheer stress-strain curves are obtained and shown to be in good agreem ent with available experimental results. Utilizing the computational effort s in Part 1, the characterization of macro-crack initiation loads is carrie d out in Part 2 for the global damage analysis without the need to resortin g to experimental data for the prediction of damaged properties. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.