Image-based model reconstruction and meshing of woven reinforcements in composites

A method based on dual kriging is proposed to process X-ray microtomographic scans of textile composites in order to construct a 3D representation of the fiber architecture with a regulated level of details. The geometry is optimized by using the curvature energy of fiber tow profiles in order to determine the best discretization scheme; then the nugget effect is applied in kriging to smooth the outward surface of fiber tows. This approach allows creating 3D models of variable resolution ranging from the X-ray scan level to geometric representations with surface meshes required for numerical simulation. The method is applied to a glass fiber textile laminate embedded in a thermoplastic matrix, and preliminary results for the estimation of the local permeability of the fiber tows are presented.