Meso-scaled finite element analysis of fiber reinforced plastics made by Tailored Fiber Placement

In this paper the effect of the embroidery based textile manufacturing technology Tailored Fiber Placement (TFP) on the stiffness and stress behavior of continuous fiber reinforced plastics is analyzed. Therefore the geometrical impact of the used stitching yarn on the fiber waviness is experimentally determined in a single unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced plastic layer made by TFP. Based on experimental data a parametrical three-dimensional representative unit cell (RUC) is developed to numerically determine the local fiber volume content as well as the stress and strain distribution under uniaxial loading. The numerical results are found in good agreement with the results obtained from tensile tests. A significant variation of local strain is found in fiber direction within the RUC while due to the effect of TFP the variation of global strain is observed to be insignificant.