Experimental characterization and numerical modeling of in-plane shear behavior of woven prepreg composite fabrics

In-plane shear deformation is a highly important mechanic that controls the formation of wrinkles during the forming of textile composites. This paper presents two computational formulations that describe the in-plane shear behavior of woven thermoset prepreg fabric. The bias-extension characterization test was used to validate the computational models. One of the two computational models presented is based on linear visco-elasticity and the other is based on visco-hyperelasticity. The comparison of simulation and experiments shows that a visco-hyperelastic model is necessary to accurately capture the behavior of woven composite prepregs. This paper also compares the experimental measurements with calculations based on the pin-jointed net theory to develop a criterion that helps to determine the range of the bias-extension experiment data that can be used to validate and calibrate computational models.