Textile composites mechanics in application to variable angle tow laminates

Optimisation driven design of composites dictates complex fibre path trajectories in the plies of composite laminates. Automatic Fibre Placement (AFP) technology allows accurate positioning of tows and widens design possibilities. It enables the manufacturing of components specifically tailored for their applications. The internal composites architectures obtained by AFP become increasingly complex and demand novel approaches for the efficient modelling of deformation and failure at tow scale. The major challenge is to tackle the architectures lacking a representative volume element, which appears to be particularly relevant for the considered systems. This research explores applicability of multi-scale methods, originally developed for textile composites, to assess stress distribution in variable angle tow (VAT) laminates.