Characterization of wrinkle morphologies by surface waviness evaluation method during deep forming of multilayer composite preforms

•Analysis of surface waviness was proposed to characterize and evaluate the wrinkling in deep stamping of multilayered composite preforms.•Surface waviness depends on the fabric architecture, the fabrics with ± 45° fibre orientation and through-the-thickness tufting yarn decrease the wrinkle amplitude by 44–52 %.•Three regions with different wrinkling characteristics can be distinguished during forming, the tetrahedral forming shows an important wrinkle-free ratio, up to 50%.•Wrinkles can be classified as amplitude-dominated and curvature-dominated, which lead to different optimization methods according to the functional requirements of the products.