Cosserat modeling of cellular solidsModélisation des solides cellulaires selon Cosserat

Cellular solids inherit their macroscopic mechanical properties directly from the cellular microstructure. However, the characteristic material length scale is often not small compared to macroscopic dimensions, which limits the applicability of classical continuum-type constitutive models. Cosserat theory, however, offers a continuum framework that naturally features a length scale related to rotation gradients. In this paper a homogenization procedure is proposed that enables the derivation of macroscopic Cosserat constitutive equations based on the underlying microstructural morphology and material behavior. To cite this article: P.R. Onck, C. R. Mecanique 330 (2002) 717–722.     

Defects in gradient micropolar elasticity—I: screw dislocation

A gradient micropolar elasticity is proposed based on first gradients of distortion and bend-twist tensors for an isotropic micropolar medium. This theory is an extension of the theory of micropolar elasticity with couple stresses together with gradient elasticity in a way that in addition to hyper stresses, hyper couple stresses also appear. In particular, the strain energy, besides its dependence upon the distortion and bend-twist terms of a micropolar medium (Cosserat continuum), depends also on distortion and bend-twist gradients. Using a simplified but rigorous version of this gradient theory, we can connect it to Eringen's nonlocal micropolar elasticity. In addition, it is used to study a screw dislocation in gradient micropolar elasticity. One important result is that we obtained nonsingular expressions for the force and couple stresses. The components of the force stress have maximum values near the dislocation line and those of the couple stress have maximum values at the dislocation line.     

Constitutive equations for micropolar hyper-elastic materials

In this paper, the concept of hyper-elasticity in the micropolar continuum theory is investigated. The restrictions on the fourth-order elasticity tensors are investigated. Using the representation theorems, a general form of constitutive equations for micropolar hyper-elastic isotropic materials is presented. As some special cases, generalizations of the neo-Hookean and Mooney-Rivlin type materials to the micropolar continuum theory are presented. The generalized constitutive equations reduce to those of the microplar linear elasticity theory when the deformations are infinitesimal. Also, Updated Lagrangian finite element formulations for the micropolar hyper-elastic materials are presented. Considering two planar examples, it is shown that an increase in the micropolar parameter results in the reduction of the deformation of the bodies. Also, it is shown that for a specimen with very small dimensions, e.g. in the micron level, the micropolar effects are more sensible. Furthermore, it is shown that the influence of the micropolar parameters is dependent not only on the size of the body, but also to its geometry and loading conditions. For the problems in which the deformation is very close to a homogeneous state, the micropolar effects are negligible.     

Micropolar hypo-elasticity

In this paper, the concept of hypo-elasticity is generalized to the micropolar continuum theory, and the general forms of the constitutive equations of the micropolar hypo-elastic materials are presented. A new co-rotational objective rate whose spin is the micropolar gyration tensor is introduced which describes the deformation of the material in view of an observer attached to the micro-structure. As special case, simplified versions of the proposed constitutive equations are given in which the same fourth-order elasticity tensors are used as in the micropolar linear elasticity. A 2-D finite element formulation for large elastic deformation of micropolar hypo-elastic media based on the simplified constitutive equations in conjunction with Jaumann and gyration rates is presented. As an example, buckling of a shallow arc is examined, and it is shown that an increase in the micropolar material parameters results in an increase in the buckling load of the arc. Also, it is shown that micropolar effects become important for deformations taking place at small scales.     

A micromechanics-based approach for the derivation of constitutive elastic coefficients of strain-gradient media

A micromechanics-based approach for the derivation of the effective properties of periodic linear elastic composites which exhibit strain gradient effects at the macroscopic level is presented. At the local scale, all phases of the composite obey the classic equations of three-dimensional elasticity, but, since the assumption of strict separation of scales is not verified, the macroscopic behavior is described by the equations of strain gradient elasticity. The methodology uses the series expansions at the local scale, for which higher-order terms, (which are generally neglected in standard homogenization framework) are kept, in order to take into account the microstructural effects. An energy based micro–macro transition is then proposed for upscaling and constitutes, in fact, a generalization of the Hill–Mandel lemma to the case of higher-order homogenization problems. The constitutive relations and the definitions for higher-order elasticity tensors are retrieved by means of the “state law” associated to the derived macroscopic potential. As an illustration purpose, we derive the closed-form expressions for the components of the gradient elasticity tensors in the particular case of a stratified periodic composite. For handling the problems with an arbitrary microstructure, a FFT-based computational iterative scheme is proposed in the last part of the paper. Its efficiency is shown in the particular case of composites reinforced by long fibers.     

Non-elliptic elastic materials and the modeling of dissipative mechanical behavior: an example

In the context of a special problem, this paper investigates the possibility of modeling dissipative mechanical response in solids on the basis of the equilibrium theory of finite elasticity for materials that may lose ellipticity at large strains. Quasi-static motions for such materials are in general dissipative if the associated equilibrium fields involve discontinuous displacement gradients. For the problem treated, consideration of such deformations is shown to lead naturally to an internal variable formalism similar to those used to describe macroscopic plastic behavior arising from microstructural effects. For quasi-static motions which are maximally dissipative in a specified sense, this formalism leads to a mechanical response which resembles that associated with the pseudo-elastic effect in shape-memory alloys.     

Defects in gradient micropolar elasticity—II: edge dislocation and wedge disclination

A theory of gradient micropolar elasticity based on first gradients of distortion and bend-twist tensors for an isotropic micropolar medium has been proposed in Part I of this paper. Gradient micropolar elasticity is an extension of micropolar elasticity such that in addition to double stresses double couple stresses also appear. The strain energy depends on the micropolar distortion and bend-twist terms as well as on distortion and bend-twist gradients. We use a version of this gradient theory which can be connected to Eringen's nonlocal micropolar elasticity. The theory is used to study a straight-edge dislocation and a straight-wedge disclination. As one important result, we obtained nonsingular expressions for the force and couple stresses. For the edge dislocation the components of the force stress have extremum values near the dislocation line and those of the couple stress have extremum values at the dislocation line and for the wedge disclination the components of the force stress have extremum values at the disclination line and those of the couple stress have extremum values near the disclination line.     

Equations of motion and boundary conditions of physical meaning of micropolar theory of thin bodies with two small cuts

Nowadays, microcontinuous mechanics (mechanics of media with microstructure) is being developed very intensively, which is testified by recently published papers [1–14] and by many others, as well as by the symposiumdedicated to the hundredth anniversary of the brothers Cosserat monograph [15], held inParis in 2009. A survey of foreign papers is given in [16], and a special place is occupied by earlier publications of Soviet scientists on micropolar theory of elasticity [17–24]. A brief survey of Cosserat theory of elasticity and an analysis and prospects of such theories in mechanics of rigid deformable bodies is given in [21]. It should be noted that, in a majority of cases, the structure strength calculations are based on the classical theory of elasticity. But there are materials such as animal bones, graphite, several polymers, polyurethane films, porous materials (pumice), various synthetic materials, and materials with inclusions which, under certain conditions, exhibit micropolar properties. There are effects which cannot be prescribed by the classical theory. In statics, nonclassical behavior can be observed in bending of thin films and cantilevers, in torsion of thin and thin-walled rods, and in the case of stress concentration near holes, corner points, cracks, and inclusions. For example, thin specimens are more rigid in bending and torsion as is prescribed by the classical theory [25–27]. The stress concentration near holes decreases, and the concentration factor depends on the radius [28]. The stress concentration near cracks also becomes lower. Conversely, the stress concentration near inclusions is higher than predicted by the classical theory [29–31]. If the material has no center of symmetry of elastic properties, then calculations according to the micropolar theory shows that the specimen is twisted in tension [32]. In dynamical problems, several phenomena also differ from the classical concepts. For example, shear waves propagate with dispersion, microrotation waves arise, and the vibration natural modes differ from the classical ones [2, 7, 11–13, 33]. All these phenomena are used to determine material constants of the micropolar theory of elasticity. There are many methods for determining such constants [2, 34]. Since thin bodies (one-, two-, three-, and multilayer structures) are widely used, it is necessary to create new refined microcontinual theories of thin bodies and advanced methods for their computations. In the present paper, various representations of the system of equations of motion are obtained in the micropolar theory of thin bodies with two small parameters in momenta with respect to a system of Legendre polynomials in the case where an arbitrary line is taken for the base. In this connection, a vector parametric equation of the region of a thin body is given for the parametrization under study, different families of bases (frames) are introduced, and expressions for components of the unit tensor of rank two (UTRT) are obtained. Representations of gradient, tensor divergence, equations of motion, and boundary conditions for the considered parametrization are given. Definitions of (m, n)th-order moment of a variable with respect to an arbitrary system of orthogonal polynomials and a system of Legendre polynomials is given. Expressions for themoments of partial derivatives and several expressions with respect to a system of Legendre polynomials and boundary conditions in moments are obtained.     

Continuum modeling of periodic brickwork

Continuum models of periodic masonry brickwork, viewed at a micro-level as a discrete system, are identified within the frame of linearized elasticity. The accuracy of various identification schemes is investigated for standard and micropolar continua, which are directly compared with the help of some numerical benchmarks, for different loading conditions that induce periodic and non-periodic deformation states. It is shown that periodic deformation states of brickwork are exactly reproduced by both continua, provided that a suitable identification scheme is adopted. For non-periodic states micropolar continuum is shown to better reproduce the discrete solutions, due to its capability to take scale effects into account. Both continua are asymptotically equivalent as the characteristic length of the discrete system tends to zero, while providing an upper and a lower bound of the discrete solution.     

Sur le remodelage des tissus osseux anisotropesOn the remodelling of anisotropic bone tissue

Growth (change of relaxed lengths) and remodelling (change of mechanical properties) are both involved in the morphogenesis of biological tissues. To model them is of paramount import for progressing both in scientific understanding and health technologies. We model bone tissue as a microstructured continuum, whose mechanical properties at the macroscopic scale are described by a linear, anisotropic elastic response that evolves in time. Our kinematics is rich enough to allow for the microstructural evolution, as well as for the interplay between stress, growth and remodelling. This is a unified approach to the mechanics of growth and remodelling, in which all balance laws derive from one virtual-power principle. As a first application, we study the problem of stiffness remodelling due to planar rotation of the microstructure, excluding bulk growth and all physiological response to mechanical stimuli (passive remodelling). To cite this article: A. DiCarlo et al., C. R. Mecanique 334 (2006).     

Stress concentrations in fractured compact bone simulated with a special class of anisotropic gradient elasticity

A new format of anisotropic gradient elasticity is formulated and implemented to simulate stress concentrations in cortical bone. The higher-order effect of the underlying microstructure in cortical bone is accounted for through the introduction of two length scale parameters and associated strain gradient terms which modify the response of the standard elastic macroscopic continuum: one internal length related to the longitudinal fibres and the other related to the transversal Haversian systems. Thus, anisotropic material behaviour is not only included in the anisotropy of the elastic effective stiffness properties, but also in the anisotropic sources of heterogeneity. The model is validated numerically in tests with bone fractures in the longitudinal and the transversal directions. It was found that the dominant length scale effects are those that coincide with the direction of fracture, as defined by the orientation of a pre-existing crack.     

Finite element study for conical indentation of elastoplastic micropolar material

Numerous experiments have repetitively shown that the material behavior presents effective size dependent mechanical properties at scales of microns or submicrons. In this paper, the size dependent behavior of micropolar theory under conical indentation is studied for different indentation depths and micropolar material parameters. To illustrate the effectiveness of the micropolar theory in predicting the indentation size effect (ISE), an axisymmetric finite element model has been developed for elastoplastic contact analysis of the micropolar materials based on the parametric virtual principle. It is shown that the micropolar parameters contribute to describe the characteristic of ISE at different scales, where the material length scale regulates the rate of hardness change at large indentation depth and the value of micropolar shear module restrains the upper limit of hardness at low indentation depth. The simulation results showed that the indentation loads increase as the result of increased material length scale at any indentation depth, however, the rate of increase is higher for lower indentation depth, relative to conventional continuum. The numerical results are presented for perfectly sharp and rounded tip conical indentations of magnesium oxide and compared with the experimental data for hardness coming from the open literature. It is shown that the satisfactory agreement between the experimental data and the numerical results is obtained, and the better correlation is achieved for the rounded tip indentation compared to the sharp indentation.     

A continuum model for the mechanical behavior of nanowires including surface and surface-induced initial stresses

The continuum modeling of the mechanical behavior of nanowires has recently attracted much attention due to its simplicity and efficiency. However, there are still some critical issues to be solved. In this paper, we demonstrate the importance of accounting for the effects of initial stresses in the nanowires that are caused by deformation due to surface stresses; we note that such initial stresses have previously been neglected in most existing continuum models. By considering the local geometrical nonlinearity of strains during the incremental flexural motion, a new formulation of the Euler–Bernoulli beam model for nanowires is developed through the incremental deformation theory, in which effects of the surface stress, the surface-induced initial stress and surface elasticity are naturally incorporated. It is found through comparisons to existing experimental and computational results for both fcc metal and ceramic nanowires that the surface-induced initial stresses, which are neglected in the Young–Laplace model, can significantly influence the overall mechanical properties of nanowires. We additionally demonstrate and quantify the errors induced by using the Young–Laplace model due to its approximation of surface stresses acting on only the top and bottom surfaces of nanowires.     

周期性蜂窝材料微极等效模型及其微观应力的一种快速算法

将周期性蜂窝材料等效为具有非局部本构的微极连续介质,以解释实验中出现的尺度效应和边界层效应.在评论相关的多种不同方法(能量法、体积平均的均匀化法等)之后,提出了一种基于位移连续和单胞力平衡的推导微极等效本构参数的新方法.以正方形单胞制成的结构为例,在不同的结构与单胞尺寸比下,考虑承受集中点载荷、均布轴力和均布剪力三种载荷工况,比较了离散完全计算、经典连续介质等效和不同微极连续体等效本构的计算结果,建议了较好的微极本构参数值.数值模拟表明,集中点载荷和剪切载荷作用时,在加载点附近和边界部分,微极等效可以显著提高计算精度.最后,给出了一种映射算法,可以根据微极等效连续体分析的结果,快速计算出对应微观单胞构件的应力,以开有圆孔的方板应力集中为例,验证并考察了所提快速算法的有效性和计算精度.     

The effect of microstructural morphology on the elastic,inelastic, and degradation behaviors of aluminum–alumina composites

Micromechanical models with idealized and simplified shapes of inhomogeneities have been widely used to obtain the average (macroscopic) mechanical response of different composite materials. The main purpose of this study is to examine whether the composites with irregular shapes of inhomogeneities, such as in the aluminum–alumina (Al–Al₂O₃) composites, can be approximated by considering idealized and simplified shapes of inhomogeneities in determining their overall macroscopic mechanical responses. We study the effects of microstructural characteristics, on mechanical behavior (elastic, inelastic, and degradation) of the constituents, and shapes and distributions of the pores and inclusions (inhomogeneities), and thermal stresses on the overall mechanical properties and response of the Al–Al₂O₃ composites. Microstructures of a composite with 20% alumina volume content are constructed from the microstructural images of the composite obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM images of the composite are converted to finite element (FE) meshes, which are used to determine the overall mechanical response of the Al–Al₂O₃ composite. We also construct micromechanics model by considering circular shapes of the inhomogeneities, while maintaining the same volume contents and locations of the inhomogeneities as the ones in the micromechanics model with actual shapes of inhomogeneities. The macroscopic elastic and inelastic responses and stress fields in the constituents from the micromechanics models with actual and circular shapes of inhomogeneities are compared and discussed.     

A size-dependent Reddy–Levinson beam model based on a strain gradient elasticity theory

A size-dependent Reddy–Levinson beam model is developed based on a strain gradient elasticity theory. Governing equations and boundary conditions are derived by using Hamilton’s principle. The model contains three material length scale parameters, which may effectively capture the size effect in micron or sub-micron. This model can degenerate into the modified couple stress model or even the classical model if two or all material length scale parameters are taken to be zero respectively. In addition, the present model recovers the micro scale Timoshenko and Bernoulli–Euler beam models based on the same strain gradient elasticity theory. To illustrate the new model, the static bending and free vibration problems of a simply supported micro scale Reddy–Levinson beam are solved respectively; the results are compared with the reduced models. Numerical results reveal that the differences in the deflection, rotation and natural frequency predicted by the present model and the other two reduced Reddy–Levinson models are getting larger as the beam thickness is comparable to the material length scale parameters. These differences, however, are decreasing or even diminishing with the increase of the beam thickness. This study may be helpful to characterize the mechanical properties of small scale beam-like structures for a wide range of potential applications.