Resin permeability analysis of woven composites using a three-scale homogenization method

Abstract

In this study, resin permeability analysis of woven composites is performed using a three-scale homogenization method. For this, structures of woven composites are considered in three scales, i.e., whole composites (macro-scale), woven fabric structures made of fiber bundles (meso-scale), and fibers in fiber bundles (micro-scale). Then, the three-scale homogenization method is formulated using the mathematical homogenization method based on the asymptotic expansion of flow velocity and pressure. Boundary value problems in micro- and meso-scales are derived to obtain micro/meso characteristic flow velocities and pressures. The micro/meso characteristic flow velocities are homogenized to obtain meso/macro permeabilities. A localization procedure is also shown to find actual meso/micro flow velocities and pressures occurring in woven composites. As an application of the present method, resin permeability analysis of a plain-woven glass fiber-reinforced plastic composite is conducted. The results show that the present method successfully analyzes the resin permeability tensors of the plain-woven composite and the resin flow through both woven structures and inside fiber bundles.