In order to solve the technical difficulty of applying the general method of cells (GMC) to develop braided composites multiscale simulation

a 3D GMC model used to multiscale simulation for 2D plain weave composites were developed. The basic theory and solution flow of the 3D GMC were outlined. Then

on the basis of the study on the meso-structural characteristics of 2D plain weave composites

its 3D GMC model was established. The correctness of the model was verified by comparison with the caculated macro- and meso-mechanical responses of the traditional finite element unit cell model. The GMC-based finite element multiscale simulation was performed on the modal analysis of 2D plain weave composites flat specimen. The test data revealed that the accuracy of the most of the first five natural frequencies predicted by the GMC model was significantly improved compared with the traditional finite element method. The advantage of this study is that multiscale simulation can be performed on the basis of the proposed 3D GMC model

helping to reveal the interaction between macro- and meso- mechanical response.