Textile geometry preprocessor for meso-mechanical models of woven composites

A mathematical model of the internal geometry of 2D and 3D woven fabrics is used as a unit-cell geometry preprocessor for meso-mechanical models of composite materials. The model computes a spatial placement of all yarns in a fabric repeat for a given weave structure (a special coding algorithm is employed) and given warp and weft yarns geometrical and mechanical parameters. The source of these data is the manufacturer's documentation for a woven fabric and yarn mechanical behaviour in bending and compression, measured on standard textile-laboratory equipment. The principle of minimum energy of a fibrous assembly leads to the prediction of the yarns crimp, the forces in the warp/weft contacts and the yarn compression within a fabric. The input data for use in meso-mechanical models of composite materials is therefore provided in addition to tools for the 3D representation of the woven structure, for the creation of:the unit-cell cross-sections and for the computation of the unit cell porosity. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.