Experimental and numerical analysis of textile composite draping on a square box. Influence of the weave pattern

International audienceDraping of composite textile reinforcements on a square box was analyzed experimentally and by numerical simulation. This forming is difficult for fabrics with continuous fibers due to the quasi inextensibility of the fibers. It is shown that the feasibility of draping on a square box with a large depth depends on the weave pattern of the textile reinforcement. Simultaneous forming of several plies without defects is also obtained. A simulation approach based on stress resultant shell finite elements gives results in agreement with the experiments, in particular with regard to the development (or not) of wrinkling. This numerical simulations show that the characteristics of tension, in-plane shear and bending of the textile reinforcement reflect the type of weave pattern and have a major role to play in the feasibility of draping. In particular, it is shown that the ratio of in-plane shear stiffness to bending stiffness of a satin weave reinforcement is favorable for draping it over a square box without wrinkling