Abstract
The cell modeling homogenization method to derive the constitutive equation considering the microstructures of the fiber reinforced composites has been previously developed for composites with simple microstructures such as 2D plane composites and 3D rectangular shaped composites. Here, the method has been further extended for 3D circular braided com-posites, utilizing B-spline curves to properly describe the more complex geometry of 3D braided composites. For verification purposes, the method has been applied for orthotropic elastic properties of the 3D circular braided glass fiber reinforced com-posite, in particular for the tensile property. Prepregs of the specimen have been fabricated using the 3D braiding machine through RTM (resin transfer molding) with epoxy as a matrix. Experimentally measured uniaxial tensile properties agreed well with predicted values obtained for two volume fractions.
