Abstract: To improve the efficiency of numerical simulation for satin weave composites without loss of accuracy, a new parallelogrammic unit cell was proposed based on the meso-structure of 5-harness satin weave composites. By introducing the failure criteria proposed by Linde, the stress-strain relation of the composites under traction in the warp direction/in-plane shear was simulated by finite element (FE) model based on the novel parallelogrammic unit cell and traditional rectangular unit cell respectively. Comparison between the numerical results of these two unit cells shows great accordance and both of them capture the data from experiments. Given its great advantage on diminishing the model size and computational efficiency compared with the traditional unit cell, the parallelogrammic unit cell is proved to be rational and effective. Furthermore, the method of constructing parallelogrammic unit cell for other regular satin weave composites is proposed, providing an effective way for optimal design and mechanical analysis of this kind of composites.

Key words: satin, woven composites, single cell model, progressive damage, FEM