An Analytical Method for Thermoelastic Analysis of 3D Orthogonal Interlock Woven Composites

A three-dimensional woven composite thermoelastic model is presented for predicting the thermoelastic properties of three-dimensional orthogonal interlock woven composites. The model is based on two level discretization of the repeating unit cell. The repeating unit cell is discretized into sections, elements, subsections and subelements. Eight number architectures of three-dimensional orthogonal woven composites have been analyzed. Compliance averaging and stiffness averaging schemes have been used for the prediction of thermoelastic properties. For the same fiber volume fraction, three-dimensional orthogonal interlock woven composites show a significant increase in through-the-thickness properties without a comparable reduction in the in-plane properties.