Asymptotic solutions by the successive disordering method

We develop the periodic componentmethod [1] and represent the solution of a stochastic boundary value elasticity problem for a random quasiperiodic structure with a given disordering degree of inclusions in the matrix via the deviations from the corresponding solution for a random structure with a smaller disordering degree. An example in which the tensor of elastic properties of a composite is calculated is used to illustrate the asymptotic and differential approaches of the successive disordering method. The asymptotic approach permits representing the quasiperiodic structure with a given chaos coefficient and the desired tensor of effective elastic properties as a result of small successive disordering of an originally ideally periodic structure of a composite with known tensor of elastic properties. In the differential approach, a differential equation is obtained for the tensor of effective elastic properties as a function of the chaos coefficient. Its solution coincides with the solution provided by the asymptotic approach. The solution is generalized to the case of piezoactive composites, and a numerical analysis of the effective properties is performed for a PVF (polyvinylidene fluoride) piezoelectric with various quasiperiodic structures on the basis of the cubic structure with spherical inclusions of a high-module elastic material.     

An embedding method for modeling micromechanical behavior and macroscopic properties of composite materials

This paper presents a numerical method for modeling the micromechanical behavior and macroscopic properties of fiber-reinforced composites and perforated materials. The material is modeled by a finite rectangular domain containing multiple circular holes and elastic inclusions. The rectangular domain is assumed to be embedded within a larger circular domain with fictitious boundary loading represented by truncated Fourier series. The analytical solution for the complementary problem of a circular domain containing holes and inclusions is obtained by using a combination of the series expansion technique with a direct boundary integral method. The boundary conditions on the physical external boundary are satisfied by adopting an overspecification technique based on a least squares approximation. All of the integrals arising in the method can be evaluated analytically. As a result, the elastic fields and effective properties can be expressed explicitly in terms of the coefficients in the series expansions. Several numerical experiments are conducted to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the numerical method and to demonstrate its application in determination of the macroscopic properties of composite materials.     

Continuum Dyson's equation and defect Green's function in a heterogeneous anisotropic solid

A continuum Dyson's equation and a defect Green's function (GF) in a heterogeneous, anisotropic and linearly elastic solid under homogeneous boundary conditions have been introduced. The continuum Dyson's equation relates the point-force Green's responses of two systems of identical geometry and boundary conditions but of different media. Given the GF of either system (i.e., a reference), the GF of the other (i.e., a defect system with “defect” change of materials property relative to the reference) can be obtained by solving the Dyson's equation. The defect GF is applied to solve the eigenstrain problem of a heterogeneous solid. In particular, the problem of slightly inhomogeneous inclusions is examined in detail. Based on the Dyson's equation, approximate schemes are proposed to efficiently evaluate the elastic field. Numerical results are reported for inhomogeneous inclusions in a semi-infinite substrate with a traction-free surface to demonstrate the validity of the present formulation.     

Generalized continuum modeling of 2-D periodic cellular solids

A generalized continuum representation of two-dimensional periodic cellular solids is obtained by treating these materials as micropolar continua. Linear elastic micropolar constants are obtained using an energy approach for square, equilateral triangular, mixed triangle and diamond cell topologies. The constants are obtained by equating two different continuous approximations of the strain energy function. Furthermore, the effects of shear deformation of the cell walls on the micropolar elastic constants are also discussed. A continuum micropolar finite element approach is developed for numerical simulations of the cell structures. The solutions from the continuum representation are compared with the “exact” discrete simulations of these cell structures for a model problem of elastic indentation of a rectangular domain by a point force. The utility of the micropolar continuum representation is illustrated by comparing various cell structures with respect to the stress concentration factor at the root of a circular notch.     

Effective elastic moduli of a soft medium with hard polygonal inclusions and extremal behavior of effective Poisson's ratio

We consider two-dimensional, two-phase, elastic composites consisting of a soft isotropic medium into which hard elastic inclusions have been placed, requiring that the inclusions be interconnected only at corner points. Denoting by the ratio of Young's modulus for the soft and hard phases, we show that the leading term in the asymptotic expansion as 0 for the effective moduli can be calculated from a finite-dimensional algebraic minimization problem. For several composites with either hexagonal symmetry or orthotropic symmetry, we explicitly solve this algebraic problem. In particular, from the above constituents we construct an isotropic material with maximal positive Poisson's ratio, as well as an orthotropic material with Poisson's ratio less than –1. We also recover in a simple way, Milton's isotropic composite with Poisson's ratio close to –1.     

A micromechanically based couple-stress model of an elastic orthotropic two-phase composite

We determine couple-stress moduli and characteristic lengths of a two-dimensional matrix-inclusion composite, with inclusions arranged in a periodic square array and both constituents linear elastic of Cauchy type. In the analysis we replace this composite by a homogeneous planar, orthotropic, couple-stress continuum. A generalization of the original Mindlin's (1963) derivation of field equations for such a continuum results in two (not just one!) characteristic lengths. We evaluate the couple-stress properties from the response of a unit cell under several types of boundary conditions: displacement, displacement-periodic, periodic and mixed, and traction controlled. In the parametric study we vary the stiffness ratio of both phases to cover a range of different media from nearly porous materials through composites with very stiff inclusions. We find that the aforementioned boundary conditions result in hierarchies of orthotropic couple-stress moduli, whereas both characteristic lengths are fairly insensitive to boundary conditions, and fall between 0.12% and 0.22% of the unit cell size for the inclusions' volume fraction of 18%.     

Stress concentrations in the particulate composite with transversely isotropic phases

The accurate series solution have been obtained of the elasticity theory problem for a transversely isotropic solid containing a finite or infinite periodic array of anisotropic spherical inclusions. The method of solution has been developed based on the multipole expansion technique. The basic idea of method consists in expansion the displacement vector into a series over the set of vectorial functions satisfying the governing equations of elastic equilibrium. The re-expansion formulae derived for these functions provide exact satisfaction of the interfacial boundary conditions. As a result, the primary spatial boundary-value problem is reduced to an infinite set of linear algebraic equations. The method has been applied systematically to solve for three models of composite, namely a single inclusion, a finite array of inclusions and an infinite periodic array of inclusions, respectively, embedded in a transversely isotropic solid. The numerical results are presented demonstrating that elastic properties mismatch, anisotropy degree, orientation of the anisotropy axes and interactions between the inclusions can produce significant local stress concentration and, thus, affect greatly the overall elastic behavior of composite.     

一种计算复合材料等效弹性性能的有限元方法

在最小二乘意义下提出了一种计算复合材料等效弹性性能的有限元方法.这种方法由于考虑了等效弹性张量各分量之间的耦合关系,所求得的等效弹性常数比传统方法更可靠,可适用于求解含任意形状的夹杂和夹杂物问题.通过算例计算了在不同弹性模量对比度下两相复合材料的等效弹性性能,并与相关的理论及数值结果进行了比较,结果表明,利用该方法计算含夹杂复合材料等效弹性常数是可行的.     

BEM for simulation of a 2D elastic body with randomly distributed circular inclusions

Based on our 2D BEM software THBEM2 which can be applied to the simulation of an elastic body with randomly distributed identical circular holes, a scheme of BEM for the simulation of elastic bodies with randomly distributed circular inclusions is proposed. The numerical examples given show that the boundary element method is more accurate and more effective than the finite element method for such a problem. The scheme presented can also be successfully used to estimate the effective elastic properties of composite materials. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 19772025).     

Asymptotic analysis of perforated plates and membranes. Part 1: Static problems for small holes

Static problems for the elastic plates and rods periodically perforated by small holes of different shapes are solved using the asymptotic approach based on the combination of the asymptotic technique and the multi-scale homogenization method. Using the asymptotic homogenization method the original boundary-value problem is reduced to the combination of two types of problems. First one is a recurrent system of unit cell problems with the conditions of periodic continuation. And the second problem is a homogenized boundary-value problem for the entire domain, characterized by the constant effective coefficients obtained from the solution of the unit cell problems. The combination of the perturbation method and the technique of successive approximations is applied for the solution of the unit cell problems. Taking into the account small size of holes the method of perturbation of the shape of the boundary and the Schwarz alternating method are used. The problems of torsion of a rod with perforated cross-section; deflection of the perforated membrane loaded by a normal load; and bending of perforated plates with circular and square holes are considered consecutively. The error of the applied asymptotic techniques is estimated and the high accuracy of the obtained solutions is demonstrated.     

A self-consistent statistical mechanics approach for determining effective elastic properties of composites

A self-consistent statistical mechanics approach for determining the effective elastic properties of composites with random structure is developed. The problem is reduced to the model of a single inclusion with a non-homogeneous elastic neighbourhood in a medium with effective elastic properties. The inhomogeneous elastic properties and size of neighbourhood are defined by randomness of the geometry, random size of inclusions and random elastic properties of the inclusions. Numerical results are given for the effective elastic properties of a composite with hollow spherical inclusions.     

Bounds for the effective properties of heterogeneous plates

This paper presents new bounds for heterogeneous plates which are similar to the well-known Hashin–Shtrikman bounds, but take into account plate boundary conditions. The Hashin–Shtrikman variational principle is used with a self-adjoint Green-operator with traction-free boundary conditions proposed by the authors. This variational formulation enables to derive lower and upper bounds for the effective in-plane and out-of-plane elastic properties of the plate. Two applications of the general theory are considered: first, in-plane invariant polarization fields are used to recover the “first-order” bounds proposed by Kolpakov [Kolpakov, A.G., 1999. Variational principles for stiffnesses of a non-homogeneous plate. J. Meth. Phys. Solids 47, 2075–2092] for general heterogeneous plates; next, “second-order bounds” for n-phase plates whose constituents are statistically homogeneous in the in-plane directions are obtained. The results related to a two-phase material made of elastic isotropic materials are shown. The “second-order” bounds for the plate elastic properties are compared with the plate properties of homogeneous plates made of materials having an elasticity tensor computed from “second-order” Hashin–Shtrikman bounds in an infinite domain.     

Propagation of shear elastic waves in composites with a random set of spherical inclusions (effective field approach)

The work is dedicated to the problem of plane monochromatic shear wave propagation through elastic matrix composite materials with a homogeneous random set of spherical inclusions. The effective field method (EFM) and quasi-crystalline approximation are used for the calculation of phase velocity and attenuation factor of the mean wave field propagating through the composite. The version of the method developed in the work allows us to obtain the dispersion equation for the wave vector of the mean wave field that serves for all frequencies of the incident field, properties and volume concentrations of the inclusions. The long- and short-wave asymptotic solutions of the dispersion equation are found in closed analytical forms. Numerical solutions of this equation are constructed in a wide region of frequencies that covers the long-, middle- and short-wave regions of the propagating waves. The phase velocities and attenuation factors of the mean wave field in the composites are analyzed for various elastic properties, density and volume concentrations of the inclusions. Comparisons of the predictions of the method with some numerical computation of the effective parameters of matrix composites are presented; possible errors in predictions of the velocities and attenuation factors of the mean wave field in the composites are indicated and discussed.     

On the stiffness of materials containing a disordered array of microscopic holes or hard inclusions

We study the macroscopic mechanical behavior of materials with microscopic holes or hard inclusions. Specifically, we deal with the effective elastic moduli of composites whose microgeometry consists of either soft or hard isolated inclusions surrounded by an elastic matrix. We approach this problem by taking the stiffness of the inclusion phase to be a complex variable, which we eventually evaluate at the soft or hard limits. Our main result states that there is a certain class of non-physical, negative-definite values of the elastic moduli of the inclusion phase for which the effective tensor does not have infinities or become otherwise singular.We present applications of this result to the estimation of effective moduli and to homogenization theorems. The first application involves using complexanalytic methods to obtain rigorous and accurate bounds on the effective moduli of the high-contrast composites under consideration. We also discuss the variational estimates of Rubenfeld & Keller, which yield a complementary set of bounds on these moduli. The best bounds are given by a combination of the analytical and variational results. As a second application, we show that certain known theorems of homogenization for materials with holes are simple consequences of our main result, and in this connection we establish corresponding new theorems for materials with hard inclusions. While our rederivation of the homogenization theorems for materials with holes can be closely related to other known constructions, it appears that certain elements provided by our main result are essential in the proof of homogenization for the hard-inclusion case.     

含夹杂复合材料宏观性能研究

本文综述并评价了有关含夹杂复合材料的有效弹性模量研究的代表性工作，包括自洽理论，微分法，Ｅｓｈｅｌｂｙ－Ｍｏｒｉ－Ｔａｎａｋａ法，Ｈａｓｈｉｎ和Ｓｈｔｒｉｋｍａｎ的变分法等。指出上述理论由于没有充分考虑复合材料内部的微结构特征，如夹杂的形状、几何尺寸、分布和夹杂间的相互影响，在夹杂的体积份数较大，如大于０．３时已不能有效地预报复合材料的有效弹性模量，随后介绍了近来才发展起来的一种新方法─—相关函数积分法，理论与实验的结果的比较表明，该方法在夹杂体积份数较大时仍然有效。     

Homogenization for wave propagation in periodic fibre-reinforced media with complex microstructure. I—Theory

The effective elastic properties of periodic fibre-reinforced media with complex microstructure are determined by the method of asymptotic homogenization via a novel solution to the cell problem. The solution scheme is ideally suited to materials with many fibres in the periodic cell. In this first part of the paper we discuss the theory for the most general situation—N arbitrarily anisotropic fibres within the periodic cell. For ease of exposition we then restrict attention to isotropic phases which results in a monoclinic composite material with 13 effective moduli and expressions for each of these are determined. In the second part of this paper we shall discuss results for a variety of specific microstructures.     

双周期分布圆环形截面夹杂反平面问题的解析方法

研究含双周期分布圆环形截面弹性夹杂的无限大介质在远场均匀反平面应力下的弹性响应。通过在双周期圆环形区域内引入非均匀本征应变,将双周期非均匀介质问题转化为带有双周期非均匀本征应变的均匀介质问题,结合双周期函数和双准周期Riemann边值问题理论,获得了该问题弹性场的级数形式解答。作为一个应用,利用该解答预测了含双周期圆环形截面夹杂复合材料的有效纵向剪切模量。数值结果表明,在相同夹杂体积分数下,含圆环形截面夹杂的复合材料比含圆形截面夹杂的复合材料拥有更高的有效纵向剪切模量。     

Antiplane magneto-electro-elastic effective properties of three-phase fiber composites

In the present work, applying the asymptotic homogenization method (AHM), the derivation of the antiplane effective properties for three-phase magneto-electro-elastic fiber unidirectional reinforced composite with parallelogram cell symmetry is reported. Closed analytical expressions for the antiplane local problems on the periodic cell and the corresponding effective coefficients are provided. Matrix and inclusions materials belong to symmetry class 6mm. Numerical results are reported and compared with the eigenfunction expansion-variational method (EEVM) and other theoretical models. Good agreements are found for these comparisons. In addition, with the herein implemented solution, it is possible to reproduce the effective properties of the reduced cases such as piezoelectric or elastic composites obtaining good agreements with previous reports.     

Theory of averaging of elastic fields in media with a monoclinic structure

Conclusions The proposed relations of averaging theory, together with complex Kolosov-Muskhelishvili potentials for isotropic matrices and Lekhnitskii potentials for rectilinearly anisotropic matrices with prismatic fillers, constitute a closed system of equations in the problem of determining the internal fields and the complete set of effective elastic constants of composite media with uniform external static stresses.By combining relations of the averaging theory and well-known solutions of boundary-value problems on the stress-state of an infinite medium with an individual inclusion, we can directly construct the solution of the problem of determining the macroscopic parameters of a composite system with an arbitrary structure.Conformal mapping of the external boundary of the determining element onto a unit circle is an efficient method of calculating contour integrals in averaging theory with a high degree of accuracy.When the initial terms are retained in an expansion of the complex potentials in degrees of inclusion interaction, it is possible to obtain approximate analytic formulas for all of the effective constants. In special cases, these formulas coincide with the asymptotic formulas found from the exact solutions.Institute of Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 3–18, January, 1987.     

基于迭代法的非线性弹性均质化研究

微观结构对复合材料的宏观力学性能具有至关重要的影响, 通过合理设计复合材料微观结构可以得到期望的宏观性能. 均质化方法作为一种有效的设计方法, 它从微观结构的角度出发, 利用均匀化的概念, 实现了对复合材料宏观力学性能的预测和设计. 而当考虑非线性因素, 均质化的实现就非常困难. 本文利用双渐近展开方法, 将位移按照宏观位移和微观位移展开, 推导了非线性弹性均质化方程. 通过直接迭代法, 对非线性弹性均质化方程进行了求解, 并给出了具体的迭代方法和实现步骤. 本文基于迭代步骤和非线性弹性均质化方程编写MATLAB 程序, 对3种典型本构关系的周期性多孔材料平面问题进行了计算, 对比细致模型的应变能、最大位移和等效泊松比, 对程序及迭代方法的准确性进行了验证. 之后对一种三元橡胶基复合材料进行多尺度均质化, 将其分为芯丝尺度和层间尺度. 用线弹性的均质化方法得到了芯丝尺度的等效弹性参数, 并将其作为层间尺度的材料参数. 在层间尺度应用非线性弹性均质化方法对结构进行计算, 得到材料的宏观等效性能, 并以实验结果为基准进行评价.