GDR CNRS 2024
Multiscale Mechanics of fibrous media

While fibrous materials and textiles witness an increasing use in many technical applications like aeronautics, automotive or biomedical applications, they have a very specific mechanical behavior whose assessment is made challenging due to the various issues that must be addressed to describe the mechanisms governing their behaviour at different scales. The proper modelling of the complex interactions between fibers, the existence of multiphysical couplings like thermo-hygro-mechanical interactions, the presence of geometrical and constitutive nonlinearities, the difficulty in bridging the scales or the lack of knowledge of the initial and actual geometrical arrangements of the fibers are among these issues. The Euromech Colloquium 569 ``Multiscale modelling of fibrous and textile materials'' took place in April 2016 in CentraleSupélec campus (French engineering school member of Paris-Saclay University). The Colloquium was organized in order to share the existing knowledge on these topics amongst experts in the field. It was initiated by the research activities and discussions taking place in the French research network (CNRS GDR 3MF - MECAFIB) ``Multiscale Mechanics of Fibrous Media''. This special issue exposes a selection of the most significant contributions to this Colloquium. A wide spectrum of fibrous materials and structures, ranging from elementary filament tows to canvas, including papers, woven and non-woven fabrics, was covered during the Colloquium. To predict their mechanical response or their deformation under various loadings and conditions, the latest advances considering different approaches were presented. Usual models of continuum mechanics are not directly appropriate to model the specific features of fibrous materials, due in particular to their strong heterogeneity, the lack of continuity between fibers, and their discrete, slender and deformable geometry. Advanced simulation methods are required to capture the various mechanisms occurring during their manufacturing or governing their damage at different scales. Methods for characterizing the geometry and local kinematic fields of deformed fibrous materials, such as computed X-ray tomography and digital image correlation, are of crucial importance to validate and improve the models and the simulations. The articles presented in this issue demonstrate significant progress on these three interconnected fields. The organizers of the Colloquium would like to express their sincere thanks to the editors of the International Journal of Solids and Structures for this special issue, and really hope that its content will inspire their colleagues to take an interest in the field of the mechanics of fibrous materials still facing many fascinating scientific challenges