Micromechanical modeling and computation of elasto-plastic materials reinforced with distributed-orientation fibers

This paper deals with the mean-field homogenization of multiphase elasto-plastic materials reinforced with non-spherical and non-aligned inclusions. Most of the literature on the micro–macro modeling of elasto-plastic composites deals with fixed-orientation fibers but this paper is concerned with cases where the inclusions have a non-uniform orientation defined by an orientation distribution function (ODF). We propose a general two-step incremental formulation and the corresponding numerical algorithms which are able to deal with any rate-independent model for any phase as well as cyclic or otherwise non-proportional loadings. The formulation was implemented in the DIGIMAT (2003) software and the numerical predictions were validated against experimental data for several composite systems.     

Thermoelasticity of orthotropic composites with ellipsoidal inclusions

Institute of Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 26, No. 9, pp. 3–10, September, 1990.     

Micromechanics of fabric reinforced composites with periodic microstructure

A model to predict the effective stiffness of woven fabric composite materials is presented. Taking advantage of the inherent periodicity of woven fabric architecture, periodic microstructure theory is used at the mesoscale for the case of a two-phase heterogeneous material with multiple periodic inclusions. For plain weave fabrics, the representative volume element (RVE) is discretized into fiber/matrix bundles and the pure matrix regions that surround them. The surfaces of the fiber/matrix bundles are fit with sinusoidal equations using two approaches. The first is based on measurements taken from photomicrographs of composite specimens and the second is based on an idealized representation of the plain weave structure. Three-dimensional sinusoidal surfaces are generated from the face equations and weave shape for the real and idealized cases in order to mathematically describe the fiber/matrix bundle regions, which are treated as unidirectional composites. Model results from the idealized geometry are compared to experimental data from the literature and show good agreement, including interlaminar material properties. From a comparison of the real and idealized geometry results for similar material RVE dimensions, it is seen that the model is capable of predicting significant changes in the in-plane material properties from slight mismatch in the fiber/matrix bundle shape and crimp, which can be captured using the geometric surfaces generated from photomicrograph measurements.     

Determination of stresses in ellipsoidal rigid inclusions

A problem of determining stresses in isolated ellipsoidal rigid inclusions contained in an isotropic elastic space exposed to the impact of external forces uniformly distributed at infinity is considered. Examples of inclusions in the form of oblate and prolate spheroids are studied when the problem has a unique solution.     

Bounds on the overall properties of composites with ellipsoidal inclusions

A new model is put forward to bound the effective elastic moduli of composites with ellipsoidal inclusions. In the present paper, transition layer for each ellipsoidal inclusion is introduced to make the trial displacement field for the upper bound and the trial stress field for the lower bound satisfy the continuous interface conditions which are absolutely necessary for the application of variational principles. According to the principles of minimum potential energy and minimum complementary energy, the upper and lower bounds on the effective elastic moduli of composites with ellipsoidal inclusions are rigorously derived. The effects of the distribution and geometric parameters of ellipsoidal inclusions on the bounds of the effective elastic moduli are analyzed in details. The present upper and lower bounds are still finite when the bulk and shear moduli of ellipsoidal inclusions tend to infinity and zero, respectively. It should be mentioned that the present method is simple and needs not calculate the complex integrals of multi-point correlation functions. Meanwhile, the present paper provides an entirely different way to bound the effective elastic moduli of composites with ellipsoidal inclusions, which can be developed to obtain a series of bounds by taking different trial displacement and stress fields.     

Effective elastic properties of composites with disoriented anisotropic ellipsoidal inclusions

Institute of Mechanics, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kiev. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 28, No. 12, pp. 30–39, December, 1992.     

Piezocomposite with reciprocal polarization of oriented ellipsoidal inclusions and the matrix

We consider statistically homogeneous two-phase random piezoactive structures with deterministic properties of inclusions and the matrix and with random mutual location of inclusions. We present the solution of a coupled stochastic boundary value problem of electroelasticity for the representative domain of a matrix piezocomposite with a random structure in the generalized singular approximation of the method of periodic components; the singular approximation is based on taking into account only the singular component of the second derivative of the Green function for the comparison media. We obtain an analytic solution for the tensor of effective properties of the piezocomposite in terms of the solution for the tensors of effective properties of a composite with an ideal periodic structure or with the “statistical mixture” structure and with the periodicity coefficient calculated for a given random structure with its specific characteristics taken into account. The effective properties of composites with auxiliary structures (periodic and “statistical mixture”) are also determined in the generalized singular approximation by varying the properties of the comparisonmedium. We perform numerical computations and analyze the effective properties of a quasiperiodic piezocomposite with reciprocal polarization of oriented ellipsoidal inclusions and the matrix, the layered structures with reciprocal polarization of the layers [1] of a polymer piezoelectric PVF, and find their unique properties such as a significant increase in the Young modulus along the normal to the layers and in dielectric permittivities, the appearance of negative values of the Poisson ratio under extension along the normal, and an increase in the absolute values of the basic piezomoduli.     

An elasto-plastic model for granular materials with microstructural consideration

In this paper, we have extended the granular mechanics approach to derive an elasto-plastic stress–strain relationship. The deformation of a representative volume of the material is generated by mobilizing particle contacts in all orientations. Thus, the stress–strain relationship can be derived as an average of the mobilization behavior of these local contact planes. The local behavior is assumed to follow a Hertz–Mindlin’s elastic law and a Mohr–Coulomb’s plastic law. Essential features such as continuous displacement field, inter-particle stiffness, and fabric tensor are discussed. The predictions of the derived stress–strain model are compared to experimental results for sand under both drained and undrained triaxial loading conditions. The comparisons demonstrate the ability of this model to reproduce accurately the overall mechanical behavior of granular media and to account for the influence of key parameters such as void ratio and mean stress. A part of this paper is devoted to the study of anisotropic specimens loaded in different directions, which shows the model capability of considering the influence of inherent anisotropy on the stress–strain response under a drained triaxial loading condition.     

A unified model for piezocomposites with non-piezoelectric matrix and piezoelectric ellipsoidal inclusions

In this paper, the closed-form solutions of the electroelastic Eshelbys tensors of a piezoelectric ellipsoidal inclusion in an infinite non-piezoelectric matrix are obtained via the Greens function technique. Based on the generalized Budianskys energy-equivalence framework and the closed-form solutions of the electroelastic Eshelbys tensors, a unified model for multiphase piezocomposites with the non-piezoelectric matrix and piezoelectric inclusions is set up. The closed-form solutions of the effective electroelastic moduli of piezocomposites are also obtained. The unified model has a rigorous but simple form, which can describe the multiphase piezocomposites with different connectivities, such as 0–3, 1–3, 2–2, 2–3, 3–3 connectivities, etc. It can also describe the effects of non-interaction and interaction among the inclusions. As examples, the closed-form solutions of the effective electroelastic moduli are given by means of the dilute solution for the 0–3 piezocomposite with transversely isotropic piezoelectric spherical inclusions and by means of the dilute solution and the Mori–Tanakas method for the 1–3 piezocomposite with two kinds of transversely isotropic piezoelectric cylindrical inclusions. The predicted results are compared with experimental data, which shows that the theoretical curves calculated by means of the Mori–Tanakas method agree quite well with the experimental values, but the theoretical curves obtained by the dilute solution agree well with the experimental values only when the volume fraction of the ceramic inclusion is less than 0.3. The results in this paper can be used to analyze and design the multiphase piezocomposites.     

Interaction between elliptical and ellipsoidal inclusions under bending stress fields

Summary  This paper deals with interaction problems of elliptical and ellipsoidal inclusions under bending, using singular integral equations of the body force method. The problems are formulated as a system of singular integral equations with Cauchy-type or logarithmic-type singularities, where unknown functions are densities of body forces distributed in the x,y and r,θ,z directions in infinite bodies having the same elastic constants as those of the matrix and inclusions. In order to satisfy the boundary conditions along the elliptical and the ellipsoidal boundaries, the unknown functions are approximated by a linear combination of fundamental density functions and polynomials. The present method is found to yield the exact solutions for a single elliptical or spherical inclusion under a bending stress field. It yields rapidly converging numerical results for interface stresses in the interaction of inclusions. Received 9 September 1999; accepted for publication 15 January 2000     

The averaged mechanical properties of prismatic lattice formed by ellipsoidal inclusions

Summary The objective of this paper is to evaluate the averaged elastic properties of 3-D grained composites in which identical inclusions form a prismatic network interacting with the matrix material. The inclusions are of ellipsoidal shape with transverse circular sections located at the nodes of a doubly-periodic lattice with an orthogonal elementary cell. When the arrays of inclusions are set at equal spacings in normal directions through the thickness of the matrix, the material formed is an anisotropic composite with tetragonal symmetry at planes transverse to the fiber axis. The longitudinal and transverse elastic and shear moduli as well as the longitudinal Poisson's ratios of such composites are evaluated in this paper. The averaged properties are studied in terms of the aspect ratio and volume fraction of the inclusions as well as the relative rigidity of the constituent phases. Employing the Eshelby's theory for the stress field around a single ellipsoidal inhomogeneity, which is surrounded by the effective anisotropic material, and considering the Mori-Tanaka's concept for the mutual interaction of the neighboring inclusions, we may evaluate the averaged elastic properties of grained composites with aligned ellipsoidal inclusions at finite concentrations. The results provided in a closed-form solution concern the stiffness of 3-D grained composites with parallely dispersed ellipsoidal inclusions forming a prismatic network inside the principal material. It is shown that the stiffness is affected by both the geometry of the inclusions and their concentration. The use of different composite models in the analysis shows that intense variations of stiffness occur mainly in hard composites weakened by soft ellipsoidal inclusions. These findings come in full verification with experimental or theoretical results from the literature. Received 10 February 1998; accepted for publication 27 November 1998     

Micromechanics modeling the solute diffusivity of unsaturated granular materials

This work is devoted to modeling the evolution of the homogenized solute diffusion coefficient within unsaturated granular materials by means of micromechanics approach. On the basis of its distinct role in solute diffusion, the liquid water within unsaturated granular materials is distinguished into four types, namely intergranular layer (interconnected capillary water), isolated capillary water, wetting layer and water film. Application on two sands shows the capability of the model to accurately reproduce the experimental results. When saturation degree is higher than the residual saturation degree Sr^r, the evolution of homogenized solute diffusion coefficient with respect to the saturation degree depends significantly on the connectivity of the capillary water. Below Sr^r, depending on the connectivity of the wetting layer, the homogenized solute diffusion coefficient within unsaturated sands decreases by 2–6 orders of magnitude with respect to that in bulk liquid water. The upper bound of the solute diffusion coefficient contributed by the water films is 4–6 orders of magnitude lower than that in bulk liquid water.     

纳米晶材料变形行为的微观力学模型

本文将纳米晶材料视为包括晶粒和晶界的两相复合材料。基于能量平衡概念推导出纳米晶材料的增量本构关系。最后将本文发展的模型用于纯铜的单轴拉伸实验,讨论了晶粒大小、形状和晶粒分布的影响,并将模型预测的结果和已有的实验结果进行比较。     

MICROMECHANICS ANALYSIS ON EVOLUTION OF CRACK IN VISCOELASTIC MATERIALS

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Stochastic homogenization of reinforced polymer with very small carbon inclusions

In this study, we wish to determine a homogenized model of a material reinforced by spherical inclusion that is randomly distributed in space. The method used for the transition to the limit is Γ-convergence [1] in the stochastic case. In addition to the stochastic framework, the very small size compared to the characteristic size of the materials makes the homogenization procedure unconventional. In this study, we want to determine a homogenized model of a material reinforced by a spherical inclusion distributed randomly in space. The peculiarity here is that these particles are of very small size, this generating an energy due to the strong contrast of microstructure. The method used for the transition to the limit is Γ-convergence [1] in the stochastic case. The random distribution is taken into account during the transition of scales, so as to preserve the statistical information, and that in spite of the passage to the limit. In addition to the stochastic framework, the very small size compared to the characteristic size of the materials makes the homogenization procedure unconventional.     

Wave propagation and dispersion in elasto-plastic microstructured materials

A Mindlin continuum model that incorporates both a dependence upon the microstructure and inelastic (nonlinear) behavior is used to study dispersive effects in elasto-plastic microstructured materials. A one-dimensional equation of motion of such material systems is derived based on a combination of the Mindlin microcontinuum model and a hardening model both at the macroscopic and microscopic level. The dispersion relation of propagating waves is established and compared to the classical linear elastic and gradient-dependent solutions. It is shown that the observed wave dispersion is the result of introducing microstructural effects and material inelasticity. The introduction of an internal characteristic length scale regularizes the ill-posedness of the set of partial differential equations governing the wave propagation. The phase speed does not necessarily become imaginary at the onset of plastic softening, as it is the case in classical continuum models and the dispersive character of such models constrains strain softening regions to localize.