Prediction of Stiffness and Strength of Plain Weave Composites by Mixed Finite Element Method

A numerical model for three-dimensional stress analysis, which was formulated in the form of mixed finite element method based on Reissner’s mixed variational principle, is applied to analyze stiffness and strength of woven fabric composites. The model calculates three-dimensional effective elastic moduli and predicts failure strengths and damage modes. The failure analysis includes residual stress calculation to consider hygrothermal effect. The numerical calculations show a good agreement with existing experimental and numerical results on both flat and woven laminated composites with various yarn-waviness ratios.