Exploiting the structural reserve of textile composite structures by progressive failure analysis using a new orthotropic failure criterion

In this paper, a novel orthotropic layer based failure criterion for modelling progressive failure of non-crimp fabrics is presented. The strength parameters and stiffnesses needed for this failure criterion are obtained from virtual material tests. Therefore, a finite element multiscale algorithm is used to model the effect of lower scale inhomogeneities on macroscale material behavior. With this multiscale approach it is possible to make predictions for one single layer within a textile preform solely from the knowledge of the mechanical behavior of the constituents fiber and matrix and from the textile fiber architecture. The obtained stiffnesses and strengthes for one textile layer are used as input data for the novel orthotropic failure criterion presented in this paper. In order to show the workability of this failure criterion, finite element simulations of coupon tests and of a three-point bending test of a textile composite are shown and compared to experimental data.