M.Y. Matveev

Effects of layer shift and yarn path variability on mechanical properties of a twill weave composite

Experimental and numerical analyses of a woven composite were performed in order to assess the effect of yarn path and layer shift variability on properties of the composite. Analysis of the geometry of a 12 K carbon fibre 2 × 2 twill weave at the meso- and macro-scales showed the prevalence of the yarn path variations at the macro-scale over the meso-scale variations. Numerical analysis of yarn path variability showed that it is responsible for a Young’s modulus reduction of 0.5% and CoV of 1% which makes this type of variability in the selected reinforcement almost insignificant for an elastic analysis. Finite element analysis of damage propagation in laminates with layer shift showed good agreement with the experiments. Both numerical analysis and experiments showed that layer shift has a strong effect on the shape of the stress–strain curve. In particular, laminates with no layer shift tend to exhibit a kink in the stress–strain curve which was attributed solely to the layer configuration.

Uncertainty in geometry of fibre preforms manufactured with Automated Dry Fibre Placement and its effects on permeability

Resin transfer moulding is one of several processes available for manufacturing fibre-reinforced composites from dry fibre reinforcement. Recently, dry reinforcements made with Automated Dry Fibre Placement have been introduced into the aerospace industry. Typically, the permeability of the reinforcement is assumed to be constant throughout the dry preform geometry, whereas in reality, it possesses inevitable uncertainty due to variability in geometry. This uncertainty propagates to the uncertainty of the mould filling and the fill time, one of the important variables in resin injection. It makes characterisation of the permeability and its variability an important task for design of the resin transfer moulding process. In this study, variability of the geometry of a reinforcement manufactured using Automated Dry Fibre Placement is studied. Permeability of the manufactured preforms is measured experimentally and compared to stochastic simulations based on an analytical model and a stochastic geometry model. The simulations showed that difference between the actual geometry and the designed geometry can result in 50% reduction of the permeability. The stochastic geometry model predicts results within 20% of the experimental values.

Numerical modelling for predicting failure in textile composites

This chapter highlights methods of numerical modelling of textile composites with an emphasis on unit cell modelling. Different methods for creating geometry and its mesh are reviewed. We discuss the choice of a damage model suitable for modelling textile composites along with their experimental results.