COMPUTATIONAL MICRO-MECHANICAL MODEL OF FLEXIBLE WOVEN FABRIC FOR FINITE ELEMENT IMPACT SIMULATION

This work presents a computational material model of flexible woven fabric for finite element impact analysis and simulation. The model is implemented in the nonlinear dynamic explicit finite element code LSDYNA. The material model derivation utilizes the micro-mechanical approach and the homogenization technique usually used in composite material models. The model accounts for reorientation of the yarns and the fabric architecture. The behavior of the flexible fabric material is achieved by discounting the shear moduli of the material in free state, which allows the simulation of the trellis mechanism before packing the yarns. The material model is implemented into the LSDYNA code as a user defined material subroutine. The developed model and its implementation is validated using an experimental ballistic test on Kevlar woven fabric. The presented validation shows good agreement between the simulation utilizing the present material model and the experiment.