Digital phase-shifting grating shearography has been applied for the investigation of the tensile behaviour of carbon/epoxy plain-weave fabric composite with a small waviness. Experimental analyses were performed for the two following configurations: a single lamina and an iso-phase double laminate. The yarn crimp effects such as the tension/bending and tension/in-plane shear couplings were concentrated on the resin rich regions for the single lamina. In the latter case, the yarn crimp effects were still significant because although the transverse shear strain due to the local bending effect of yarns is a little constrained by the other neighboring layer, the degree of the constraint was certainly insufficient to degenerate the local bending effect. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.