Predicting the overall response of an orthogonal 3D woven composite using simulated and tomography-derived geometry

Effects of two meso-scale geometry generation approaches on predicting effective elastic properties and thermal conductivity of an orthogonal 3D woven composite are studied in this paper. The two approaches used are fabric mechanics simulation (DFMA software, Kansas State University) and direct processing of X-ray microtomography (µCT) data. Two models are created in DFMA using two different sets of cross-sectional areas as input: nominal (based on the initial weave pattern) and adjusted (informed by volume fraction measurements obtained from microscopy data). In addition, one conformal mesh and three voxel mesh models are created from µCT data. Experimental measurements of transverse Young’s moduli are used to evaluate the accuracy of the predicted results.