Composites: Part B 55 (2013) 158166

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Composites: Part B
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesb

Finite element simulation and experimental study on mechanical

behavior of 3D woven glass ber composite sandwich panels
Mojtaba Sadighi , Seyyed Ahmad Hosseini
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, 424 Hafez Ave, Tehran, Iran

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 26 September 2012
Received in revised form 18 April 2013
Accepted 12 June 2013
Available online 25 June 2013
Keywords:
A. Polymermatrix composites (PMCs)
A. Fabrics/textiles
C. Finite element analysis (FEA)
D. Mechanical testing
Composite sandwich

a b s t r a c t
The results of nite element simulation followed by an experimental study are presented in order to
investigate the mechanical behavior of three-dimensional woven glass-ber sandwich composites using
FE method. Experimental loaddisplacement curves were obtained for atwise compressive, edgewise
compressive, shear, three-point bending and four-point bending loads on the specimens with three different core thicknesses in two principal directions of the sandwich panels, called warp and weft. A 3D
nite element model is employed consisting of glass fabric and surrounding epoxy resin matrix in order
to predict the mechanical behavior of such complex structures. Comparison between the nite element
predictions and experimental data showed good agreement which implies that the FE simulation can be
used instead of time-consuming experimental procedures to study the effect of different parameters on
mechanical properties of the 3D woven sandwich composites.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Sandwich structures are increasingly used in structural applications where materials with high mechanical strength and stiffness
at low specic weight are required. Thermal and acoustic insulation, high energy absorption and low cost are some other benets
of sandwich materials which make them more suitable than isotropic materials for many advanced constructions in marine, aerospace, automotive and building industries. Despite all mentioned
benets, the connection between the skin and core is one of the
major weak spots in traditional sandwich materials which could
cause damage initiation during impact, shear and bending loads
[1,2]. Although some techniques have been used to improve the
skincore debonding problem [3,4], each method is likely to enforce some restrictions and extra cost during the production process. High skincore debonding resistance of 3D woven sandwich
composites established a new era in the eld of sandwich structures which is very benecial in increasing their lifetime and damage tolerance. This kind of sandwich composite is a fabric woven
out of a glass yarn and consists of two parallel deck-layers bonded
together by vertical threads, called piles. These piles are woven
into deck-layers thus forming an integral sandwich structure.
According to the core geometry, two principal material directions
could be considered; warp and weft which both are shown in
Fig. 1. Velvet weaving technique is the method which is used to
produce these fabrics. The idea of using velvet weaving techniques
Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 21 66405844; fax: +98 21 66419736.
E-mail address: mojtaba@aut.ac.ir (M. Sadighi).
1359-8368/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2013.06.030

to produce these fabrics rst was given in 1985 in both Belgium

(Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) and Germany (University of Stuttgart and MBB) in order to be used in the composite sandwich structures [5,6].
van Vuure et al. [7] compared the drum-peel strength of 3D woven glass ber sandwich composites with a variety of sandwich
materials. Their results reveal that the skincore debonding resistance of 3D woven sandwich materials is much higher than other
commercial sandwich materials. Some researchers investigated
the mechanical properties and failure mechanisms of 3D woven
sandwich composites using experimental methods [810]. Zheng
et al. [11] used 3D woven panels in hierarchical lattice panels. They
showed that such structure has much better energy absorption
capability than metallic stretching-dominated lattice truss materials and ordinary honeycombs. Fan et al. [12] designed multilayered
panels by stacking monolayers panels. Their tests revealed a great
improvement in energy absorption capacity compared to monolayer 3D woven sandwich panels. Studies on the effect of adding
foam to the core of 3D woven composite revealed a large synergistic effect on mechanical properties, fatigue and impact behavior
[1317]. Corigliano et al. [18] modeled 3D woven composite lled
with syntactic foam in the core as a sandwich to predict the bending behavior of such materials. Although their nite element simulation showed good agreement with the experimental results, the
mechanical properties of the core and the facesheets should be obtained from experiments, to be used as input to the nite element
program. van Vuure et al. [19] performed a detailed modeling of 3D
woven composites to predict the core shear modulus and compression modulus using a linear elastic nite element analysis and

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159

Fig. 1. Cross section of 3D woven sandwich composites: (a) warp view; and (b) weft view.

compared the results with experimental data. Their simulation

showed acceptable predictions for the core shear modulus in warp
direction, but the results for weft direction shear modulus and for
panel compressive modulus were not accurate.
Considering the core structure of 3D-fabric sandwich composites, the mechanical behavior of such materials highly depends
on several parameters such as thickness of the sandwich, pile
diameter, skins thickness, resin content, the angle of the piles
and the fabric pattern. Since many factors inuence the mechanical
behavior of these complex structures, numerical modeling plays an
important role in their development.
The main objective of this research is to provide a nite element
approach to predict the mechanical behavior of 3D woven composite structures under different loads with high accuracy. The 3D
structure of the glass fabric and the surrounding epoxy resin matrix are modeled using CATIA program, separately. The nite element simulation is performed using ABAQUS package. Besides, an
experimental study on the basic mechanical properties of 3D-fabric sandwich composites on the basis of related ASTM test standards were performed and the predictions by nite element
model are compared with the experimental results.

2. Mechanical tests
All of the mechanical tests in the current study were performed
by a Zwick testing machine with axial actuators. The jack has a static capacity of 250 kN, with a maximum stroke of 300 mm and a
linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) mounted on it. A
constant movement rate of 0.5 mm/min of the movable head of
the testing machine was applied through all types of mechanical
tests.
The specimens made of a Parabeam 3D woven E-glass fabric
and impregnated with DERAKANE 411-45 epoxy vinyl ester resin
using hand lay-up process. The resin content of the nal panels
was 55% in weight. Specimens with thicknesses of 8 mm, 10 mm
and 12 mm were used for each type of tests. Area density of the
panels were 1775 g/m2, 2583 g/m2 and 2866 g/m2 for 8 mm,
10 mm and 12 mm panels, respectively. The thickness of panels
facesheets were about 0.60 mm and average distance between
neighboring piles were 6.02 mm in warp and 3.73 mm in weft
directions. The piles had an average diameter of 0.70 mm and
made an average angle of 75 to the facesheets and had an average
of 86% degrees of stretching. Each of the presented data is obtained
by at least ve specimens in order to get maximum accuracy and to
avoid probable errors.

Fig. 2. Flatwise compression test setup.

bearing block. Fig. 2 shows the specimen mounted on the testing

machine.
For edgewise compression, the specimens with a length of
80 mm and a width of 50 mm were laterally supported adjacent
to the loaded ends on the facings of the sandwich to prevent early
buckling failure at the point of contact with the loading plates. This
was done by using clamps made of rectangular steel bars fastened
together so as to clamp the specimens lightly between them as is

2.1. Tests procedures

Flatwise and edgewise compression tests were performed
according to ASTM C365 [20] and ASTM C364 [21] test standards,
respectively. For atwise compression test, the specimens with
an area of 80 mm  80 mm were put on a self-aligning spherical

Fig. 3. Edgewise compression test setup.

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Fig. 6. Experimental stressstrain curves for panels with three different thicknesses
under atwise compression.

Fig. 4. Shear test setup.

shown in Fig. 3. End supports were obtained by casting 10 mm of

both ends of the specimens in epoxy resin. A self-aligning spherical
bearing block was also used to ensure to distribute the load properly and uniformly in each facesheet.
The shear properties of 3D-fabric sandwich composites were
obtained according to ASTM C273 [22] test standard which covers
the determination of shear strength parallel to the plane of the
sandwich and the shear modulus. The test specimens with an area
of 150 mm  50 mm were rigidly supported by two steel plates
bonded to the facings as is shown in Fig. 4.
In order to examine the behavior of 3D-fabric sandwich composites under bending loads, three-point bending and four-point
bending tests were carried out according to ASTM C393 [23] test
standard on specimens with an area of 150  40 mm. Fig. 5a and
b shows the specimens under three-point and four-point bending
test, respectively. The plastic covers were used for safety
considerations.

2.2. Experimental results and discussion

2.2.1. Flatwise compression test results
Fig. 6 shows the experimental stressstrain curves for 3D-fabric
sandwich composites with three different thicknesses, under atwise compressive loads. The overall behavior of the panels under

compression is ductile although the panels are made of glass bers

which are brittle. It could be explained by the fact that the glass
strings in the core can only bear loads when they are straightened
and are under tension at the same time. In other words, glass
strings in the piles bear negligible bending moments; and the resin
surrounding the glass strings in the piles plays the major role during panel atwise compression. So yielding of the panel is due to
the yield of resin and ductile behavior it is expected from panels.
Due to this reason, it can be said that increasing resin ratio improves mechanical performance of 3D woven composite panels,
as was investigated by van Vuure et al. [19]. Fan et al. explained
the ductile behavior of the panels by coupled compression-shear
mechanism [9,11].
The specimens show a linear elastic behavior until the matrix
cracking starts and the load starts to decrease due to the core yield.
This process continues until the piles fail completely and the facesheets start to compress the piles together, which causes the load
to increase.
Results show that thinner panels show higher compressive stiffness and maximum stress in atwise compressive loading. This
could be explained by the fact that the bending moments are higher in the body of the piles and the intersections of the piles with the
facesheets in the 3D-fabric sandwich composites with larger thicknesses, which result in lower bearable loads in comparison with
thinner panels.
Similar stressstrain curves is reported in the literature for 3D
woven structures under atwise compressive loads, in which there
are some differences between stressstrain curves and panel yield
strength. Fan et al. [9] reported atwise compressive strength of
3.6 MPa for panel of 8 mm thickness and 2046 g/m2 area density,
with a distance between piles of 5 mm in warp direction. Fan
et al. [10] reported 1.5 MPa as compressive strength for panel with

Fig. 5. Specimen under bending loading: (a) three-point bending; and (b) four-point bending.

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161

Fig. 7. Experimental shear stressstrain curves for the 3D-fabric sandwich composites of three different thicknesses: (a) warp direction; and (b) weft direction.

8.7 mm thickness and 2046 g/m2 area density, with a distance between piles of 4.2 mm in warp direction. Li et al. [8] presented a
atwise compressive strength of 2 MPa, 2.8 MPa and 3.4 MPa for
panels of 10 mm thickness with three different pile angles, in
which the distance between piles were 4.8 mm in warp direction
and 4.1 mm in weft direction. Fan et al. [10] reported an average
atwise compressive strength of 4.4 MPa for panel with 10.5 mm
thickness and 3000 g/m2 area density, in which distance between
piles were 6.7 mm in warp direction and piles had a thickness of
3 mm. Different yield strength of panels with similar thickness reveals high effect of structure parameters such as piles tilt angle and
stretching ratio, distance between neighboring piles, and resin
ratio.
2.2.2. Shear test results
The experimental stressstrain curves for the 3D-fabric sandwich composites of three different thicknesses, under shear loads
are depicted in Fig. 7. Overlay, the load increases linearly until
the resin yield starts at the intersections of the piles with the facesheets and the piles begin to incline toward the direction of shear
and the load reaches a plateau due to resin piles plastic deformation. This process continues until the piles become straightened
and glass strings inside the piles start to resist against tensile load,
causing the load to increase with a sharp rate.
It can be deduced from the experiments that the panels with
lower thicknesses have higher yield stress and shear modulus. In
addition, the warp direction shows higher yield stress and shear
modulus respect to the weft direction. Li et al. [8] reported higher
yield stress and shear modulus in weft direction compared to warp
direction. van Vuure et al. [7] implemented an investigation on the
effect of piles stretching degree on the shear behavior of 3D woven
composite structures. Their experiments revealed that warp direction shows higher shear performance than the weft direction in

panels with a degree of pile stretching lower than 91%, while in

panels with a degree of pile stretching higher than 91%, the weft
direction shows higher performance. It seems that there is not a
general rule for such structures to determine which direction is
stronger and it depends on core parameters.
2.2.3. Bending test results
The loaddeection diagrams of 3D-fabric sandwich composites
under three-point and four-point bending are depicted in Figs. 8
and 9, respectively. In general, the load increases linearly with
the deection until the core start to fail under shear and compressive loads and the curve reaches a plateau. The results show that
the warp direction show higher bending stiffness as is depicted
in Fig. 10, which was predictable by taking into account the higher
shear modulus of warp direction in comparison with weft direction. However, as was discussed in Section 2.2.2, it is not a general
rule. Fan et al. [9] performed three-point bending tests on panels of
8 mm and 12 mm thicknesses with 2046 g/m2 and 3000 g/m2 area
densities, respectively. Distance between piles was 5 mm in warp
direction. They reported higher bending properties in weft direction compared with warp direction. Their test specimens also
showed higher load-bearing capacity. The reason of such differences was discussed in Section 2.2.1.
2.2.4. Edgewise compression test results
The experimental loaddisplacement curves for the edgewise
compression tests are shown in Fig. 11. After a linear elastic process, the specimen buckles and the load falls sharply till the core
failure completes and the load reaches a plateau, which is due to
forming plastic hinges in the specimen.
According to experimental results, the specimens show higher
buckling loads in warp direction. However, this is not a general
rule. Li et al. [8] reported that weft direction buckles under higher

Fig. 8. Loaddeection diagrams based on three-point bending test: (a) warp direction; and (b) weft direction.

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Fig. 9. Loaddeection diagrams based on four-point bending test: (a) warp direction; and (b) weft direction.

experimental study of such materials is a complicated task. The

lack of numerical methods which are able to predict the mechanical properties of 3D-fabric sandwich composites with a high precision is the major weak point of past researches in this area. The
following includes the method of modeling and nite element simulation of 3D woven composites, followed by a comparison between the FE prediction and experimental data.
3.1. Finite element modeling

Fig. 10. Bending stiffness of 3D woven composite panels with different thicknesses,
based on experimental results.

loads in edgewise compression test. It seems that parameters like

resin content, the tilt angle of the piles and the degree of piles
stretching [7] determine that which direction show higher
mechanical properties; as was discussed in Section 2.2.1.
3. Finite element implementation
Considering the number of parameters which inuence the
mechanical behavior of 3D woven composite structures,

The modeled composite consists of two separate parts, including

the detailed model of the fabric and the resin, made by using CATIA
program. This method of modeling seemed necessary due to different mechanical behavior of E-glass strings in the fabric and the surrounding epoxy resin. In other words, the plastic strain of the
panels with brittle bers cant be modeled without considering
the glass bers and the resin as different materials with their
own mechanical properties. To be more specic, glass strings in
the fabric bear negligible bending moments, whereas resin acts as
an isotropic solid. Besides, as was investigated through the experimental studies, resin yielding was the cause of panels yield in most
loading types, so it seems impossible to predict the panels yield
load and post-yield behavior without considering the resin and
the bers as different materials with their own properties, which
are extracted from manufacturers datasheets. The geometrical

Fig. 11. Experimental loaddisplacement curves for edgewise compression of the 3D-fabric sandwich composites of three different thicknesses: (a) warp direction; and (b)
weft direction.

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Fig. 14. Predicted and experimental stressstrain curves of 12 mm panels under

atwise compression loading.
Fig. 12. Modeled composite for atwise compression simulation.

details, including the pile shape and the distance between the piles
in the core, the piles diameter, the distance between the bers inside the facesheets and the thickness of the facesheets are considered as were described in Section 2. The modeled panels were
used as an input to the nite element package, ABAQUS.
Fig. 12 depicts the fabric embedded in resin, modeled for atwise compression FE simulation. The embedded region technique
makes it possible to embed glass fabric within resin matrix, since
there is no distinct boundary between the regions. Dimensions of
the modeled specimen for each test simulation were equal to the
same test specimen.
3.1.1. Glass fabric
A circular cross-section of 0.47 mm diameter with Youngs
modulus of 72 GPa and Poisson ratio of 0.27 was used for glass
strings. Considering the fact that glass strings do not bear bending
moments, as was discussed before, T3D3 element type which is a
3-node 3D truss with three translational degrees of freedom per
node was chosen for woven glass fabric which is appropriate for
the curved geometrical shape of the bers inside the core. van
Vuure et al. [19] used beam elements for the piles and implemented linear elastic analysis to predict the core shear modulus
of 10 mm panels. Their simulation showed high errors in the weft
direction. The presented data are before the fracture of the glass bers because as was explained, the panels failures start due to the
fracture of the resin.

The simulated resin is treated as an isotropic material with Youngs

modulus of 3.3 GPa, yield stress of 81 MPa and Poisson ratio of
0.35.
3.1.3. Connections between fabric and resin
The embedded element technique was used to simulate the
constraints between the bers and the surrounding resin, in order
to eliminate the convergence problems associated with remeshing
the matrix where the interface evolves, by simple collocation the
adjacent nodes of the bers and the matrix. In other words, due
to the fact that resin is absorbed by the piles by capillary forces,
there is no distinct boundary between the glass strings and surrounding resin in piles. This method constrains the translational
degrees of freedom of the glass ber elements nodes to the resin.
3.1.4. Boundary conditions
Boundary conditions are applied to the reference node of loading instruments which are dened as analytical rigid materials. The
contact formulation between the specimens and loading instruments in the normal direction is hard contact, which gives strict
enforcement of contact constraints. In tangent direction, the contact formulation is considered as frictionless or rough based on
loading type needs and considerations. In cases where the test
instruments were stitched to the specimens, the related nodes of
the modeled specimens were tied to the rigid loading plates.
3.2. Finite element analysis

3.1.2. Resin
A C3D10 element type, which is a 10-node quadratic tetrahedron with three translational degrees of freedom per node, was
used for resin. This element is suitable for the complex shape of
the piles inside the core, because it has a high order shape function
due to usage of intermediate nodes on each edge of the element.

3.2.1. Flatwise compression

In order to simulate the boundary condition of atwise compression test, the translational degrees of freedom of the panel
lower surface nodes was set to zero, while the panel upper surface
was tied to a rigid loading plate, which was free to translate and

Fig. 13. Deformed shape of 12 mm panels under atwise compressive loading: (a) nite element; and (b) experiment.

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Fig. 15. Predicted and measured atwise compressive properties of panels with different thicknesses: (a) compressive strength; and (b) compressive modulus.

Fig. 16. Predicted and real deformed shape of 12 mm panel under shear loading: (a) warp; and (b) weft.

As is compared in Fig. 14, there is a good agreement between

the predicted and experimental stressstrain curves. However,
the predicted yield loads are slightly lower than the experimental
data. The main reason of differences between the predicted and the
experimental curves could be the simplications made to model
the resin. The modeled piles are assumed to have a circular
cross-section, while some irregular shapes of cross-sections are observed [19]. Fig. 15 compares the predicted atwise compressive
strength and modulus of panels with different thicknesses with
test results. The predictions are more accurate in higher thicknesses because the distance between the adjacent piles is low in
thinner panels, resulting in some irregular resin connections which
are not considered in the model.
Fig. 17. Experimental and nite element shear stressstrain curves for 12 mm
panel in warp and weft directions.

the displacement was applied through the reference node of the rigid plate. Fig. 13 depicts the deformed shape of the specimens with
12 mm thickness under atwise compressive loading, predicted by
nite element simulation and observed through mechanical tests.

3.2.2. Shear
In order to get the maximum resemblance to the test conditions, two rigid surfaces were modeled and their nodes were tied
to the surface of the upper and lower facesheets. The upper skin
displacement was applied through the reference node of the upper
rigid surface, while the lower rigid surface was only free to rotate
along its edge. The predicted and real deformed shape of 12 mm

Fig. 18. Predicted and experimental shear properties for panels with three different thicknesses: (a) shear strength; and (b) shear modulus.

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165

Fig. 19. Predicted and experimental deformed shape of 12 mm panels: (a) three point bending; and (b) four point bending.

Fig. 20. Predicted and experimental bending loaddeection curves of 12 mm panels in warp and weft directions: (a) three point bending; and (b) four point bending.

Fig. 21. Predicted and measured bending stiffness of panels with three different
thicknesses in warp and weft directions.

panel under shear loading are shown in Fig. 16. The matrix failure
starts at intersections of the piles with the facesheets. Fig. 17 depicts the experimental and nite element shear stressstrain
curves for 12 mm panel in warp and weft directions. The nite element predictions are in good agreement with the experimental
data as is compared in Fig. 18 and it is possible to predict the accurate values of shear properties for panels with more than 8 mm
thickness.

3.2.3. Bending
The load in the nite element simulations was applied through
rigid cylinders with the same diameters as the test apparatus. The
specimens were free to skid on lower cylinders. The predicted and
experimental deformed shape of 12 mm panels under three point
bending and four point bending load are shown in Fig. 19. The failure usually starts due to shear failure of the panels, which starts at
the intersection of the piles with the facesheets.
The predicted and experimental loaddeection curves of
12 mm panels in warp and weft directions are depicted in
Fig. 20a and b for three point bending and four point bending,
respectively. Based on the experimental and FE results for panels
with 8 mm, 10 mm and 12 mm thicknesses, the predicted and
measured bending stiffness of panels in warp and weft direction
are shown in Fig. 21. There is a satisfactory correspondence between the experimental and FE results, especially for the panels
with higher thickness which is due to the reasons mentioned
before.
3.2.4. Edgewise compression
The translational degrees of freedom of rigid plate adjacent to
one of model ends was set to zero, while the rigid plate through
which the load was applied, was free to translate and rotate. The
simulated and experimental fracture mode and stressstrain

Fig. 22. Simulated and experimental fracture mode of 12 mm panel under edgewise compression: (a) warp; and (b) weft.

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accomplished according to related ASTM test standards. Finite element results are in good agreement with the experimental data,
especially in the laminates with higher thicknesses in which the
modeled resin distribution are more similar to the real resin distribution shape.
References

Fig. 23. Experimental and nite element stressstrain curves for 12 mm panel
under edgewise compression.

Fig. 24. Predicted and measured facesheets maximum stress under edgewise load
for three different panels in warp and weft directions.

curves of panels with 12 mm thickness under edgewise compressive load are depicted in Figs. 22 and 23, respectively. Fig. 24 compares the facesheets stress at buckling load. The experimental
maximum load is lower than the predicted critical load for the panel with 8 mm thickness in both warp and weft directions. Little
eccentric loads, which are unavoidable, may cause the panels to
buckle under predicted loads. Another reason is that the specimens
may not be perfectly straight because they are made through a
hand layup process, so buckling under loads lower than the theoretical failure load is probable.
4. Conclusion
The present paper concerns the prediction of the mechanical
behavior of 3D woven glass ber sandwich composites under different mechanical loads using nite element simulations. For this
purpose, a 3D nite element model is constructed where the glass
fabric is considered as a material which is not able to carry bending
moments, while the surrounding resin behaves as a homogenous
solid. In order to evaluate the nite element predictions,
mechanical tests including atwise compression, shear, three point
bending, four point bending and edgewise compression were

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