Strength Prediction of Woven Composite Rings using Progressive Damage Analysis

In this paper A progressive damage model based on multi-scale modeling has been developed to predict the initiation and propagation of damage in plain weave fabrics. For this purpose, microscopic damage in yarns and resin is calculated by an RVE (Representative Volume Element) FE simulation. By applying suitable boundary conditions of RVE, macro-scale average stresses were derived to extract the components of the equivalent stiffness matrix. Finally, by developing UMAT and USDFLD subroutines in the ABAQUS commercial software, the strength of the woven composite rings is predicted numerically. In order to confirm the numerical predictions, composite rings using the woven glass tapes of 5 cm width and epoxy resin are fabricated according to ASTM D2290 and tested. A good correlation between experimental and numerical results could confirm the accuracy of the finite element simulation.