Failure analysis of 2D and 3D woven composites

摘要

Part 1 of this report includes copies of publications resulting from NASA Grant NAG1-1324. In order to give a better overall view of the project, Part 1 begins with a summary of the primary conclusions and accomplishments. Specialized analysis software was developed as part of this project. Part 2 documents the use of this software. Part 2 includes user's manuals and a description of the files on the media provided with this report. The objective of this project was to develop an analysis for predicting the failure of woven composites and to use the analysis to enhance understanding of their mechanical behavior, especially the failure process. Woven components present a formidable analytical challenge. The complex architecture makes routine application of finite element analysis impractical. Accordingly, a considerable part of this effort concentrated on developing novel analytical methods. In particular, special finite elements were developed which account for microstructure within a single element and global/local analysis methods were developed and evaluated. Use of these analyses indicated that the behavior of woven composites is complex, but that much can be learned using these numerical tools on even moderate size workstations.