Computational modelling and homogenization of technical textiles

This contribution presents a multiscale homogenization method to model technical textiles. On the macroscopic level textiles are characterized by a large area-to-thickness ratio, such that a discretization with shell elements is numerically efficient. The material behavior is strongly influenced by the heterogeneous (e.g. woven) microstructure. This is explicitly modelled by means of a volumetric microsample, and a homogenization scheme is applied to transfer the microscopic response to the macrolevel. Theoretical aspects are discussed and a numerical example for periodic textile structures is given.