Virtual geometric realization of woven textile composites

Abstract

Several methods for describing meso-mechanical virtual domains of woven textiles exist. Such approaches utilize equations conjured directly from independent textile manufacturing/machining processes. Therefore, extensions beyond cases considered by the originating authors is technically challenging because it requires machining process experience. Consequently, an intuitive, yet simple, method for developing a variety of complex woven textiles is desirable. The proposed approach uses a simplistic geometric philosophy similar to Peirce's. Nevertheless, it implements advancedcross-sectional shape functions such as power-elliptical functions etc., capable of describing a plethora of cross-sections. Also, non-circular arcs, adapted from local cross-sectional geometry of yarns, are used to define yarn paths. In addition, more complex woven fabrics such as 3D angle and orthogonal interlocking textiles are considered. Generation of desired woven fabrics is defined by a set of inherent physical geometric arguments which are implemented using numerical techniques. This numerical solution strategy, based on physical arguments, negates the requirement of defining equations restricted to specific textiles, making the proposed technique universally adaptable. The requisite arguments of this approach are implemented in MATLAB using an in-house algorithm, TextCompGen. It receives arguments about desired textile architectures, and outputs MATLAB-based plots of the expected geometry alongside a complementary Python-script for automatically re-creating the same geometry in ABAQUS/CAE—a widely-used finite element (FE) preprocessor. The latter feature is included to facilitate subsequent FE analyses, if required