Finite element simulation of the mechanical behaviour of textile composites at the mesoscopic scale of individual fibers

A simulation of the mechanical behaviour of textile composites at the scale of fibers is presented in this article. The approach, based on a finite element code with an implicit solver, focuses on the taking into account of contact-friction interactions appearing in assemblies of fibers undergoing large transformations. It allows, in a first step, to compute the unknown initial configuration of any woven structure. Then, adding an elastic matrix to the fabric, various loading tests can be simulated in order to identify mechanical properties of composite materials.