Mechanical analysis of 3-D braided composites by the finite multiphase element method

L. Chen, Xiaoming Tao, C. L. Choy

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

180 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A finite multiphase element method (FMEM), in which the element comprises more than one kind of material, has been proposed to predict the effective elastic properties of 3-D braided composites. This method is based on the variational principle and our previous geometric model that assumes the existence of different types of unit cells in the three regions in a 3-D braided composite, i.e. the interior, surface and corner. The numerical procedure involved two steps. First, a fine local mesh at the unit cell level is used to analyze the stress/strain of each unit cell. Then, a relatively coarse global mesh is used to obtain the overall responses of the composite at macroscopic level. By using the stress volume averaging method, the effective elastic properties of the composite can be calculated under the prescribed uniform strain boundary conditions. Finally, the predicted stress/strain curves are compared with experimental results, demonstrating the applicability of the FME method.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2383-2391
Number of pages9
JournalComposites Science and Technology
Volume59
Issue number16
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 1999

Keywords

  • 3-D braided composites
  • Effective elastic properties
  • Finite-element method
  • Multiphase element

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ceramics and Composites
  • General Engineering

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