FibrePlug – An ABAQUS plug-in for multi-scale modelling of textile composites

In this paper, a plug-in – FibrePlug – developed within the ABAQUSTM Simple GUI (RSG) and Fox GUI development environments is introduced. In contrast to traditional meso-scale modeling, FibrePlug provides an advanced user-friendly environment for simultaneously modeling fibers at micro- and meso-scales. With FibrePlug, the yarn level fabrics may be replaced by a specific user-defined number of representative bundles also known as virtual fibers. Further customizations, including the modification of the number of virtual fibers, are available within the GUI. In addition to the FibrePlug’s microscale modeling capabilities, readers are also introduced with the beam and solid element discretization features within the plug-in and their implications to computational efficiencies. The feature of the plug-in’s hybrid multi-scale model generation is also demonstrated. Furthermore, the accuracy of a uniform beam-element model generated with FibrePlug is validated by simple tensile tests performed with the 3D DIC equipment. Despite noticeable deviations in mechanical properties with respect to traverse direction, these properties are satisfactorily predicted along the loading direction.