An Efficient 3D-model for the Micro-Scale Analysis of Geometrically Imperfect Fibre-Reinforced Composites

Master thesis (2022)

Authors

A. Bharath Aerospace Engineering

Contributors

B. Y. Chen Aerospace Structures & Computational Mechanics - Aerospace Engineering (mentor)
Faculty
Aerospace Engineering, Aerospace Engineering
Copyright: © 2022 Anirudh Bharath
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Published Date

29-06-2022

Language

English

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Faculty

Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

This work develops a stand-alone Finite Element-based Unit Cell for the modelling of Fibre Reinforced Composites, capable of capturing 3D stress states and geometrical imperfections at the micro-scale. The project considers different beam and 3D elements for this purpose and draws comparisons between them based on computational efficiency, accuracy, and ease of implementation. A new setup is proposed to greatly reduce computational effort and facilitate user interaction and parametrisation by drawing from some of the most promising concepts identified from the present literature. The thesis presents such an FE model which can model a Multi-Fibre-matrix Unit Cell including codes for the generation and perturbation of the geometry, multi-scale meshing, solving, and post-processing. Some typical results for Micro-scale Unit Cells are presented to validate and demonstrate the capabilities of the model, and avenues for improvement and development of this concept are also detailed.