ORTHOTROPIC THERMAL-CONDUCTIVITY OF PLAIN-WEAVE FABRIC COMPOSITES USING A HOMOGENIZATION TECHNIQUE

This article presents a new application of two-scale asymptotic homogenization schemes to predict the orthotropic thermal conductivity of plain-weave fabric reinforced composite laminates. A unit-cell, enclosing the characteristic periodic repeat pattern in the fabric weave, is isolated and modeled. A new three-dimensional series-parallel thermal resistance network is developed to solve a steady-state heat transfer boundary value problem (BVP) for this unit-cell. Laminate effective orthotropic thermal conductivities are obtained analytically and numerically as functions of (1) thermal conductivity of the constituent materials, (2) fiber volume fraction, and (3) weave style. The analytically predicted thermal conductivity values are compared with numerical finite element predictions, with existing models in the literature and with experimentally obtained values.