Simulation and tomography analysis of textile composite reinforcement deformation at the mesoscopic scale

The preforming stage of the RTM composite manufacturing process leads to fibrous reinforcement deformations which may be very large especially for double curvature shapes. The knowledge of the mesoscopic deformed geometry is important for reinforcement permeability computations and for damage prediction analyses of the composite. A simulation method for woven composite fabric deformation at mesoscopic scale is presented in this paper. A specific continuum hypo-elastic constitutive model is proposed for the yarn behavior. The associated objective derivative is based on the fiber rotation. Spherical and deviatoric parts of the transverse behavior are uncoupled. X-ray tomography is used to obtain experimental undeformed and deformed 3D geometries of the textile reinforcements. It provides, in particular, fiber distribution within the yarn. A comparison between deformed geometries obtained by mesoscopic simulation and by tomography is presented for biaxial tension and in-plane shear deformation. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.