Evaluation of macro finite elements for use in global/local analysis of textile composites

Textile composites are ideal candidates for global/local finite element analysis because the global response of composites is so dependent on the complex microstructure of the weave. However, most global/local methods use homogenization to approximate the global material properties, which results in loss of information about material architecture. In this work, single field and multi-field macro-elements were used to account for material inhomogeneity within each element in the global region. The effectiveness of these macro-elements vs. using homogenized properties was evaluated for several configurations. It was found that using macro-elements in the global region of a model generally yields greater accuracy than using homogenized properties.