The applicability of voxel meshes to model the mechanical behavior of woven composites at the mesoscopic scale is studied and compared to consistent Finite Element (FE) meshes. The methods are illustrated by mechanically modeling a Representative Unit Cell (RUC) of a composite made of four layers of glass fiber plain weave fabric embedded in an epoxy matrix.Mesh convergence is studied to determine the minimum element size necessary to obtain a correct yarn volume fraction. The comparison between both methods is based on (i) homogenized macroscopic elastic properties, (ii) local stress fields, and (iii) first damage prediction.Even if a good agreement is obtained for the elastic properties, the stress concentrations due to the steplike shape of voxels induce significant differences between both methods in terms of first damage prediction.

International audienceThe crack onset configuration at damage onset in a four-layer plain weave glass fiber/epoxy matrix composite is studied at the mesoscopic scale using a coupled criterion based on both a stress and an energy condition. The possible crack shapes are selected based on optical microscope observations of damage mechanisms on a specimen edge during a tensile test. The crack location, length and orientation, the decohesion length and the strain at damage onset are determined. The damage onset strain is underestimated compared to the experimental value determined by acoustic emission if only a stress criterion is considered. The coupled stress and energy criterion leads to a more reasonable estimate of strain at damage onset

Until now, the coupled stress and energy criterion has mainly been used in 2D applications, but it is possible to extend it to a 3D case. Herein the crack initiation in epoxy/aluminum bimaterial specimens under four point bending is predicted through a 3D numerical application of the coupled criterion. The stress and the energy conditions are computed by means of 3D finite element modeling of both undamaged and cracked specimens. The crack initiates at the epoxy/aluminum interface, meshes of the cracked specimens take into account the crack topology which is determined using the interface normal stress isocontours. By indirect confrontation to experimental tests on aluminum/epoxy bimaterial specimens of different width, the proposed approach allows determining the interface strength and fracture energy. The blind application of the proposed method to a crack initiation in aluminum/epoxy/aluminum specimens of different epoxy layer thickness under four point bending leads to a reasonable agreement with experimental data.

In recent years the phase-field method and the coupled energy and stress-based criterion have attracted much attention due to their adaptability in modeling fractures. Both approaches have been successfully used to determine crack initiation and have compared well with real-life experiments. The phase-field method diffuses the crack surface into the volume of the solid, thus making the solution viable through variational techniques. The diffusion is controlled by an internal length scale, which is primarily considered to be a numerical aid without any real physical meaning. In this paper, we question the consideration that the internal length is only a numerical parameter, and assess its mechanical significance with the help of the coupled criterion. Through elaborate benchmark examples, the correlation between the two methods is demonstrated based on the critical loading, the crack topology, and the crack arrest length. We reveal that independently of the chosen aspect, the phase-field approach and the coupled criterion present excellent correspondence. We show that the correlation between tensile strength and length scale is unique for the standard phase-field formulation. Interestingly, we find that both stress and energy criteria are satisfied in the phase-field fracture, and this is explained by demonstrating the alteration in global energy release rate due to the regularization introduced by the smeared model.

a b s t r a c tThe mechanical behavior of a four-layer plain weave glass fiber/epoxy matrix composite is modeled at the mesoscopic scale, taking into account the dry fabric preforming before resin injection, the relative shift and nesting between fabric layers, and the characteristic damage mechanisms, i.e., intra-yarn cracking and decohesion at the crack tips. The surface strain fields obtained numerically are similar to the strain fields observed at the surface of the specimen. Damage is modeled by introducing discrete cracks in the FE mesh of the representative unit cell of the composite. The crack locations are determined using a stress based failure criterion. The predicted locations are similar to those observed experimentally. The effects of intra-yarn cracks on the macroscopic mechanical properties show the same trends as the experimental data. Good quantitative agreement is obtained if yarn/yarn or yarn/matrix decohesions at the crack tips are taken into account.