XFEM Modelling of Inelastic Material Behaviour and Interface Failure in Textile-Reinforced Composites

This paper addresses the multiscale simulation of heterogeneous materials. The considered composite materials exhibit a hierarchical material structure with three distinct length scales - micro, meso and macro. This feature of the morphology allows for the application of homogenisation techniques based on a representative volume element (RVE) which is entirely typical for the local, periodic material structure.The heterogeneous material structure in an RVE is modelled by the extended finite element method (XFEM) Suitable material models account for the deformation behaviour of the constituents in the generated RVE models. The combination of XFEM and a cohesive zone model is used to represent discrete failure processes in the local material structure. This multiscale approach is applied to predict the effective material behaviour of fibre reinforced polymers. Using periodic displacement boundary conditions, effective stress-strain curves are computed for glass fibre reinforced polypropylene with unidirectional and woven arrangements of the reinforcing fibres.