Validation of a non-orthogonal constitutive model for woven composite fabrics via hemispherical stamping simulation

A non-orthogonal constitutive model was previously developed to characterize the anisotropic material behavior of woven composite fabrics under large shear deformation. This paper presents a validation of the constitutive model via hemispherical stamping simulation of a square woven composite fabric by a fully continuum mechanics-based approach with finite element (FE) method. The constitutive model is imposed on conventional shell elements to equivalently characterize the global mechanical behavior of woven composite fabric during forming. A balanced plain woven composite is taken as an example. The stamping results from the non-orthogonal model and the corresponding orthogonal constitutive model are compared with experimental data. It is shown that the results predicted by the non-orthogonal model are in a good agreement with the experimental results, while those from the orthogonal model have large discrepancies. The numerical simulation demonstrates the necessity and efficiency of the non-orthogonal constitutive model in capturing the anisotropic material behavior that woven composite fabrics render in forming. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.