A Filament Level Analysis on 3-D Orthogonal Weave Micro-geometry Modeling under Different Yarn Tension

3-D woven textile is generated through the weaving process. Yarn is a non-continuum material domain, the structure of which is determined by inter fiber movement. In this study, the micro-geometry of 3-D orthogonal weave is generated at filament level predicting through the weaving process implementing the digital element approach (DEA). First, the basic concepts and explicit algorithm of DEA is introduced. The method of calculating adjusted digital fiber material property in terms of discretization resolution is proposed. Second, the unit-cell topology of 3-D orthogonal weave is defined by a position matrix. The calculation of potential energy of the cell is derived. At last, a dynamic weaving process is designed to investigate the effect of yarn tension on fabric micro-geometry and cell energy. 4 unit-cells are generated under 4 sets of tension combination. Results show that as the fabric thickness decrease, the filaments of the weft yarns move towards the center. The weft yarns at the top and bottom deform into their final shape first. The applied tension on weaver plays a dominant role in determining fabric thickness and convergence speed. By comparing the numerical results with the microscope pictures taken from the actual specimen, it is concluded that the fabric micro-geometry produced by tension combination 4 closely matches the experimental results.