We investigated the in-plane response of Dyneema Fraglight, a fragment-resistant needle-punched felt. The characterization approaches included uniaxial tensile tests and cyclic loading tests along principal and off-principal directions, in-plane shear tests and studies on fabric microstructures. These experimental studies provided detailed information on the deformation and failure mechanisms of needle-punched felt under quasi-static loading conditions. Using this knowledge, we developed a continuum model for the mechanical behavior of nonwoven fabrics in planar deformation. The continuum behavior is obtained through homogenization of the response of a representative fiber network, accounting both for elastic and inelastic deformation mechanisms. The model is implemented into the finite element code ABAQUS, allowing simulations of the fabric response under different modes of deformation. Results from these simulations indicate that the proposed model is capable of capturing the essential features of the material behavior including in-plane anisotropy, texture evolution and damage accumulation.
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