Elastic-Viscoplastic Behaviour of Plain-Woven GFRP Laminates: Analysis Using Homogenization Theory

In the present study, a method for reducing the domain of analysis is developed for the homogenization analysis of plain-woven laminates. Moreover, the method is applied to the quantitative prediction of elastic-viscoplastic deformation of plain-woven GFRP laminates. It is first shown that the internal structures of plain-woven laminates satisfy point-symmetry on the assumption that the laminates have the in-phase or out-of-phase laminate configuration of plain fabrics. The point-symmetry is then utilized for the boundary condition of unit cell problems, reducing the domain of analysis to 1/4 and 1/8 for the in-phase and out-of-phase laminate configurations, respectively. Using the present method combined with the nonlinear time-dependent homogenization theory, the elastic-viscoplastic behavior of plain-woven GFRP laminates under in-plane on- and off-axis loading is analyzed. In addition, the tensile tests of a plain-woven GFRP laminate at a constant strain rate are performed at a room temperature. Comparing the results of the present analysis with the experimental ones, it is shown that the analysis successfully predicts the in-plane elastic-viscoplastic behavior of the plain-woven GFRP laminate.