Investigation into the changes in bending stiffness of a textile reinforced composite due to in-plane fabric shear: Part 2 – Numerical analysis

Numerical investigations were pursued in an effort to understand the relationship between changes in the stiffness of plain-weave fabric-reinforced plates and the degree of in-plane shear within the fabric reinforcement. These numerical studies were motivated by an experimental study where the measurable geometric changes discerned among plates with different levels of in-plane shear were (1) the reorientation of the fibers within the plane of the plate, (2) an increase in thickness with increasing in-plane shear, and (3) the change in width of the fiber tows as function of in-plane shear. Finite element models were used to investigate the individual contributions of these geometric changes on the bending stiffness of the plates. For the material system considered in this study, the reorientation of the fibers and the change in plate thickness as a function of the state of shear were concluded to be the dominant factors affecting the bending stiffness of the plates. The change in cross-section orientation about the tow axis was determined to be insignificant.