A NUMERICAL MICROMECHANICS ANALYSIS OF THE MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF A PLAIN WEAVE COMPOSITE

The present paper deals with the problem of the micromechanics analysis of the elastic constants of a one-ply plain weave composite using the strain energy equivalency principle with the aid of the finite element method. By assuming undulation in one direction only the plain weave composite is modeled. A systematic treatment of the relationship between the semi-micromechanical aspects of the woven fabric structure and the macromechanical properties of the fabric composite is presented. The numerical estimation of the various elastic constants of a one-ply plain weave composite is given. A comparison of the resulting numerical prediction with experimental results shows that the method is valid and suggests that it should be extended to the case of a two-directional undulation model. © 1990.