Mesoscopic strain fields in woven composites: Experiments vs. finite element modeling

Detailed determination of strain in woven composite materials is fundamental for understanding their mechanics and for validating sophisticated computational models. The digital image correlation technique is briefly presented and applied to the full-field strain determination in a twill-weave carbon-fiber-reinforced-plastic (CFRP) composite under in-plane loading. The experimental results are used to assess companion results obtained with an ad hoc finite element-based model. The DIC vs. FEM comparison is carried out at the mesoscopic scale.