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Simulation of the Manufacturing Process of Braided Composite Tubes for Realistic Microstructure Representation
Abstract
In order to create representative numerical models of textile composite structures and their underlying microstructure, the braiding process of a composite tube made from a triaxial braided textile fabric is simulated. The tows are treated as a collection of representative fibers. The kinematics of the braiding process are modeled completely and the typical cross sectional shape of the tows emerge automatically. Then a procedure is outlined on how to convert the results of the braiding simulation to a solid mesh model that can be used for further structural investigations. The plausibility of the resulting model of the microstructure of a composite tube is shown through an example of a simple tension test.