Hello,
I have been trying to use SwiftComp to evaluate the mechanical behavior of woven composite materials. I am creating the geometry from TexGen and generating a voxel mesh. I am importing the generated input file to Abaqus and it automatically imports the orientation data as well. I have learnt that the Z-axis origin should be in the mid way of the thickness of the generated geometry. I make sure that’s the case when I generate the model from Texgen. I use the homogenization option in SwiftComp Abaqus GUI to generate properties. I use 2D shell, Orientation- Global, Elastic behavior to produce the results. The program runs fine but the properties are incorrect. I cannot figure out why that happens. I have applied bending moment to the unit cell generated outside of SwiftComp and I get accurate results but when I run it through SwiftComp the bending stiffness is much higher. Almost twice. I have concluded that the mesh is not the culprit as the FEM model gives expected value.
I have repeated this for a Unidirectional lamina (also generated from TexGen) and SwiftComp gives me the correct bending stiffness. So the problem is with woven geometries. Please let me know if I am missing an obvious step. Thanks!