• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.205-210
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• 2001

In this work, virtual material characterization of 3D orthogonal woven composites is performed to predict the elastic properties by a full scale FEA. To model the complex geometry of 3D orthogonal woven composites, an accurate unit structure is first prepared. The unit structure includes warp yarns, filler yarns, stuffer yams and resin regions and reveals the geometrical characteristics. For this virtual experiments by using finite element analysis, parallel multifrontal solver is utilized and the computed elastic properties are compared to available experimental results and the other analytical results. It is founded that a good agreement between material properties obtained from virtual characterization and experimental results. Using the method of this virtual material characterization, the effects of inconsistent filler yarn distribution on the in-plane shear modulus and filler yarn waviness on the transverse Young's modulus are investigated. Especially, the stiffness knockdown of 3D woven composite structures is simulated by virtual characterization. Considering these results, the virtual material characterization of composite materials can be used for designing the 3D complex composite structures and may supplement the actual experiments.