Postbuckling response of unitized stiffened textile composite panels: Computational modeling

Abstract

Abstract A computational investigation of unitized stiffened textile composite panels that are manufactured from triaxially braided textile composites and loaded in axial compression into the postbuckling regime is presented. The stiffened panels are unitized because the textile nature of the constituent material, in conjunction with an alternative stiffener design, form a near-net shape one-piece stiffened panel structure where the textile laminae that form the skin section of the panel are also used, without discontinuity of material, to form the stiffener. A multiscale computational model is presented where the architecture-dependent behavior of a discretely modeled mesoscale representative volume element is passed up to the orthotropic homogenized macroscale stiffened panel shell model. The mesoscale model is automatically executed based on input from the macroscale shell model. Progressive damage initiation and propagation is accomplished by implementing a crack band model in the macroscale model to simulate a material softening behavior. The experimental results are compared to the computational multiscale framework analysis results where a mesoscale triaxially braided textile composite architecture-based model serves as the damage initiation criterion for a smeared progressive damage crack band model in the orthotropic homogenized stiffened panel macroscale shell model.