Research on the automatic modeling and performance prediction of plain-woven composites based on beam elements

This work presents an approach for the automatic modeling and high-efficiency simulation of the mechanical properties of plain-woven composites. For the beam element finite element model, a technical scheme for the automatic modeling of plain-woven fabrics is presented. Considering the constraint relationship between the matrix and the fibers, a method for creating matrix beam elements is proposed. Then, a beam element solver was compiled to simulate the tensile properties of the plain-woven composites. In addition, a method of rendering a three-dimensional model of yarn and the simulation results were presented, and a comparison between real fabric images and modeled fabric structure confirmed that the method proposed in this work could effectively model plain-weave fabric structures. Experimental results showed that the deviations of the tensile modulus and strength were 0.41% and −7.59% respectively, which verified the validity of the beam element model used in this study. Moreover, testing verification of the method used in this study could realize the automatic modeling and simulation of representative cells of plain-woven composites in a few seconds. The above results show that this work offers the potential to handle the efficient calculations of large-scale woven structure models.