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Thesis-2012-Romelt.pdf (12.54 MB)

Multi-scale modelling of damage initiation and progression in textile composite

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posted on 2013-04-24, 08:21 authored by Philipp Romelt
Composite materials play an ever increasing role in the design of modern day aeronautical and automotive structures due to their weight saving potential. Generally progress in constituent material production and composite manufacturing have resulted in lower costs for composite structures, which has made them more attractive for a number of industries, including the aeronautical and automotive industries. However, while sufficiently accurate numerical models exist to model damage initiation and progression in metal structures similar models are not yet available for composite structures. Yet the ability to model damage accurately is an integral part of the design process in both the aeronautical as well as the automotive industry. Due to the more complex microstructure of textile composites compared to metals a numerical model to predict the behaviour of a macrostructure needs to take microstructural effects into account. Multi-scale modelling approaches are uniquely suited to efficiently incorporate not only micro-scale affects but also higher scale affects like tow buckling. Therefore a multi-scale approach to model damage initiation and progression in textile composites based on the finite element method is presented in this thesis. A number of mechanical tests of a benchmark composite are conducted to measure input parameters for the multi-scale approach as well as mechanical behaviour for comparison with model predictions. The multi-scale approach is used to predict the mechanical behaviour of the benchmark composite for two different load cases, pure tension and pure shear. Results for the pure shear load case show significant deviations between predicted and experimentally measured stress-strain curve. For the pure tension load case transverse strain predictions also deviate significantly from the experimental data, stress-strain data in the loading direction however show good agreement between predicted values and experimentally measured data. Whilst further improvements are still required, the approach presented in this thesis provides a solid foundation for designers to predict damage initiation behaviour and progression in textile composites.

History

School

  • Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering

Department

  • Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering

Publisher

© Philipp Römelt

Publication date

2012

Notes

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) of Loughborough University.

EThOS Persistent ID

uk.bl.ethos.587950

Language

  • en

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    Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering Theses

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