Isogeometric analysis for numerical plate testing of dry woven fabrics involving frictional contact at meso-scale

With a view to application to meso–macro decoupled two-scale draping simulations of dry woven fabrics, the method of isogeometric analysis (IGA) is applied to the numerical plate testing (NPT) for their periodic unit structures involving frictional contact at meso-scale. The meso-structure having periodicity only in in-plane directions is identified with a representative volume element to characterize the macroscopic mechanical behavior that reflects the interfacial frictional contact phenomenon between fiber bundles. NURBS basis functions are utilized to accurately solve macro-scale frictional contact problems and the mortar-based knot-to-surface algorithms are employed to evaluate the contact- and friction-related variables. A weaving process is simulated as a preliminary analysis to obtain the initial state of an in-plane unit cell that is subjected to bending of fiber bundles contacting with each other. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the performance and capability of the proposed method of IGA-based NPT for characterizing the macroscopic structural responses of dry woven fabrics that can be substituted by macroscopic ‘inelastic material’ behaviors.