Meso-scale model for calculating the stiffness of filament wound composites considering fiber undulations

A meso-scale model is proposed to study filament-wound composites with fiber undulations and crossovers. First, the crossover and undulation region is classified as the circumferential undulation and the helical undulation. Next, the two undulations are separately regarded as a series of sub-models to describe the meso-structure of undulations by using mesoparameters such as fiber orientation, fiber inclination angle, resin rich area, fiber volume fraction and bundle cross section. With the meso-structure model and the classic laminate theory, a method for calculating the stiffness of filament wound composites is eventually established. The effects of the fiber inclination angle, the fiber and resin volume fraction and the resin rich area on the stiffness are studied. The numerical results show that the elastic moduli for the circumferential undulation region decrease to a great extent as compared with that of the helical undulation region. Moreover, significant decrease in the elastic and shear moduli and increase in the Poisson\'s ratio are also found for the resin rich area. In addition, thickness and bundle section have evident effect on the equivalent stiffness of the fiber crossover and the undulation region.