Multiscale Simulation on the Thermal Response of Woven Composites with Hollow Reinforcements

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 12; no. 8; p. 1276
• Main Authors: Zhao, Xiaoyu, Guo, Fei, Li, Beibei, Wang, Guannan, Ye, Jinrui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 08.04.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Beads; Boundary conditions; Braided composites; Composite materials; Conductivity; Fibers; Glass beads; Heat conductivity; Heat exchangers; hollow material; Homogenization; Microfibers; Numerical analysis; Phase volume fraction; plain-woven composites; progressive homogenization; Simulation; thermal conductive behavior; Thermal conductivity; Thermal response; Thickness; Woven composites; Yarn; thermal conductive behavior; progressive homogenization; hollow material; plain-woven composites
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano12081276

In this paper, we established a progressive multiscale model for a plain-woven composite with hollow microfibers and beads and investigated the general conductive thermal response. Micromechanic techniques were employed to predict the effective conductivity coefficients of the extracted representative volume elements (RVEs) at different scales, which were then transferred to higher scales for progressive homogenization. A structural RVE was finally established to study the influence of microscale parameters, such as phase volume fraction, the thickness of the fibers/beads, etc., on the effective and localized behavior of the composite system It was concluded that the volume fraction of the hollow glass beads (HGBs) and the thickness of the hollow fibers (HFs) had a significant effect on the effective thermal coefficients of the plain-woven composites. Furthermore, it was found that an increasing HGB volume fraction had a more significant effect in reducing the thermal conductivity of composite. The present simulations provide guidance to future experimental testing.