Elastic Behavior of Woven Fabric Composites: I—Lamina Analysis

Two-dimensional models are presented for the elastic analysis of a plain weave fabric lamina. These models take into account the actual fabric structure by consid ering the fiber undulation and continuity along both the warp and weft directions, possible presence of gap between adjacent yarns, actual cross-sectional geometry of the yarn and possible unbalanced nature of the plain weave fabric. Typical studies on the effect of fiber undulation and lamina thickness on the in-plane elastic constants are presented. A large discrepancy, similar to that reported in literature, is found between the predicted elastic moduli of plain weave fabric lamina by ID WF models and experimental results. On the other hand, the predictions of 2D WF models are fairly good since the two-dimensional extent of the fabric is considered in these models.