Micro/macromechanical plastic limit analyses of composite materials and structures

The load-bearing capacities of ductile composite materials and structures are studied by means of a combined micro/macromechanics approach. Firstly, on the microscopic scale, the aim is to get the macroscopic strength domains by means of the homogenization theory of micromechanics. A representative volume element (RVE) is selected to reflect the microstructures of the composite materials. By introducing the homogenization theory into the kinematic limit theorem of plastic limit analysis, an optimization format to directly calculate the limit loads of the RVE is obtained. And the macroscopic yield criterion can be determined according to the relation between macroscopic and microscopic fields. Secondly, on the macroscopic scale, by introducing the Hill's yield criterion into the kinematic limit theorem, the limit loads of orthotropic structures such as unidirectional fiber-reinforced composite structures are worked out. The finite element modeling of the kinematic limit analysis is deduced into a nonlinear mathematical programming with equality-constraint conditions that can be solved by means of a direct iterative algorithm. Finally, some examples are illustrated to show the application of the present approach. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 19902007), the National Foundation for Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of China (No. 200025), the Fund of the Ministry of Education of China for Returned Oversea Scholars and the Basic Research Foundation of Tsinghua University.