CALIBRATING MACROSCALE MODELS OF 3D-WOVEN COMPOSITES: COMPLEMENTING EXPERIMENTAL TESTING WITH HIGH FIDELITY MESOSCALE MODELS

Composites with 3D-woven reinforcement could help fill a growing need for lightweight materials with improved material integrity and out-of-plane performance. Developing efficient computational tools to predict their behaviour, however, is key to facilitating their widespread adoption in various industrial applications. Macroscale models are one such tool. They consider an approach where the material model is homogeneous and anisotropic. While macroscale models are computationally efficient, they also require large scale, complex and time consuming experimental testing campaigns to characterise the material response. One promising avenue that is explored in this work, is the development of a characterisation test matrix, in which material data is acquired through a combination of experimental testing and simulation of a high fidelity mesoscale representative volume element. In this collaborative project, both experimental testing and mesoscale simulations are carried out in order to calibrate a macroscale model for 3D-woven composites. The results are validated against off-axis experimental tensile tests, as well as multiaxial load scenarios applied to the mesoscale representative volume element.