Examination of material and architectural effects at various length scales on the structural deformation response determined via multiscale generalized method of cells

In this paper, the effects of architectural parameters and material scatter of woven fiber polymeric composites at the macro (woven RUC) and structural scale are studied. The Multiscale Generalized Method of Cells methodology is used to determine the overall inelastic composite response. The tow fiber volume fraction, aspect ratio and fiber packing architectural effects were investigated, with the resulting macroscale and structural scale tensile and in-plane shear modulus and strain energy response being monitored. The macroscale responses investigated the effect of these parameters on a single RUC (be it plain or five harness stain) of the weave fabric; whereas the structural response considered multiple RUCs with a random combination of various macroscale RUCs. Results show that at the macroscale, architectural effects can present a wide variation in responses, but the influence of these same effects at the structural scale are drastically reduced. Material scatter effects implemented at the microscale also show little variation at the macro scale.