Fracture analysis of woven textile composite using cohesive zone modeling

The fracture behavior of plain weave textile composite was studied numerically by finite element analysis and cohesive zone modeling. Finite element meshes were generated by inserting cohesive elements between every side of pregenerated bulk element meshes of plain weave unit cells. Property transformation of wavy tows was accounted for by defining local axes for bulk elements of tows, and the cohesive elements were grouped and assigned corresponding fracture properties as per the fracture modes. Then periodic boundary conditions were applied simulating tensile test. It was found that the present approach provided the detailed fracture initiation and propagation history explicitly with complicated fracture modes. The predicted stress-strain curve matched accurately the reference experimental analysis results. The fracture behavior of plain weave composites was found to be highly dependent on waviness ratio, stacking pattern and number of plies.