A novel surrogate modeling strategy of the mechanical properties of 3D braided composites

In this paper, a surrogate-based modeling methodology is developed and presented to predict the elastic properties of three dimensional (3D) four-directional braided composites. Using this approach, the prediction process becomes feasible with only a limited number of training points. The surrogate models constructed using Finite Element (FE) method and Diffuse Approximation, reduce the computational time and cost for preparing experimental samples. In the FE model, multiscale method is applied to couple the computations of elastic properties at microscale and mesoscale. Subsequently, a parametric study is performed to analyze the effects of the three design parameters on the elastic properties. Satisfactory results are obtained via the surrogate-based modeling predictions, which are compared with the experimental measurements. Moreover, the predictions obtained from surrogate models concur well with the FE predictions. This study orients a new direction for predicting the mechanical properties based on surrogate models which can effectively reduce the sample preparation cost and computational efforts.