The effect of mesh morphologies on the mesoscale Finite Element modelling of woven composites

Mesoscale Finite Element (FE) modelling methods of woven and braided composites have attracted great attention in recent years as they can provide high accuracy, especially in describing damage behaviour. One of the key factors that affects the results of such kind of simulations is the choice of the mesh morphology. The two most widely-applied meshing approaches at present are the voxel- and the volume-mesh; however, these two models have not been compared in detail with experimental data. Therefore, in the present work, both volume- and voxel-mesh models have been used to build a composite Representative Volume Element (RVE) made of glass-fibre woven fibre with Epoxy Ampreg 26. These FE models have been built in order to investigate the effects of the mesh morphology on the simulations under quasi-static tensile and shear loading conditions. The volume-mesh model provides a well correlated stress-strain relationship in comparison with the test results, while the voxel-mesh model predicts higher tension and shear properties. However, computational issues, such as negative volume and the stress concentration caused by the mesh, are observed in the volume-mesh model while the voxel-mesh is computationally more efficient, i.e. less time-consuming, in replicating the tension and shear tests with acceptable results.