  A finite element simulation of the mechanical behaviour of woven textile
materials at the scale of individual fibers is proposed in this paper. The aim
of the simulation is to understand and identify phenomena involved at different
scales in such materials. The approach considers small patches of woven textile
materials as collections of fibers. Fibers are modelled by 3D beam elements,
and contact-friction interactions are considered between them. An original
method for the detection of contacts, and the use of efficient algorithms to
solve the nonlinearities of the problem, allow to handle patches made of few
hundreds of fibers. The computation of the unknown initial configuration of the
woven structure is carried out by simulating the weaving process. Various
loading cases can then be applied to the studied patches to identify their
mechanical characteristics. To approach the mesoscopic behaviour of yarns, 3D
strains are calculated at the scale of yarns, as post-processing. These strains
display strong inhomogeinities, which raises the question of using continuous
models at the scale of yarns.
