Micromechanical study of elastic moduli of loose granular materials

In micromechanics of the elastic behaviour of granular materials, the macro-scale continuum elastic moduli are expressed in terms of micro-scale parameters, such as coordination number (the average number of contacts per particle) and interparticle contact stiffnesses in normal and tangential directions. It is well-known that mean-field theory gives inaccurate micromechanical predictions of the elastic moduli, especially for loose systems with low coordination number. Improved predictions of the moduli are obtained here for loose two-dimensional, isotropic assemblies. This is achieved by determining approximate displacement and rotation fields from the force and moment equilibrium conditions for small sub-assemblies of various sizes. It is assumed that the outer particles of these sub-assemblies move according to the mean field. From the particle displacement and rotation fields thus obtained, approximate elastic moduli are determined. The resulting predictions are compared with the true moduli, as determined from the discrete element method simulations for low coordination numbers and for various values of the tangential stiffness (at fixed value of the normal stiffness). Using this approach, accurate predictions of the moduli are obtained, especially when larger sub-assemblies are considered. As a step towards an analytical formulation of the present approach, it is investigated whether it is possible to replace the local contact stiffness matrices by a suitable average stiffness matrix. It is found that this generally leads to a deterioration of the accuracy of the predictions. Many micromechanical studies predict that the macroscopic bulk modulus is hardly influenced by the value of the tangential stiffness. It is shown here from the discrete element method simulations of hydrostatic compression that for loose systems, the bulk modulus strongly depends on the stiffness ratio for small stiffness ratios.     

Micromechanical consideration of tensile crack behavior based on virtual internal bond in contrast to cohesive stress

A modified version of the virtual internal bond model (VIB) is presented. This involves the introduction of a R-bond restricting the relative rotation freedom of pairwise mass particle. Such a modification allows the VIB model to consider arbitrary values of the Poisson ratio. A linear elastic cohesive law considering both the R-bond and L-bond are assumed. The constitutive relationship is derived using the Cauchy–Born rules. The derived constitutive associates the bond stiffness with the Young’s modulus and Poisson ratio of materials. This gives the bond stiffness in terms of the Young’s modulus and Poisson ratio of materials.The modified VIB model is then used to analyze the tensile crack behavior. In contrast to the cohesive stress method, the deformation-governed concept will be used. The local materials failure is assumed to coincide with the reduction of the bond density due to the local deformation rather than by the local cohesive stress. A phenomenological relationship between the bond density and the deformation is established. The criterion which is applied to determined crack initiation and propagation is built into the constitutive model. As an example, the method is used to study the crack initiation and propagation behavior under tensile loading.     

Existence of Weak Solutions for the Three-Dimensional Motion of an Elastic Structure in an Incompressible Fluid

We study here the three-dimensional motion of an elastic structure immersed in an incompressible viscous fluid. The structure and the fluid are contained in a fixed bounded connected set Ω. We show the existence of a weak solution for regularized elastic deformations as long as elastic deformations are not too important (in order to avoid interpenetration and preserve orientation on the structure) and no collisions between the structure and the boundary occur. As the structure moves freely in the fluid, it seems natural (and it corresponds to many physical applications) to consider that its rigid motion (translation and rotation) may be large. The existence result presented here has been announced in [4]. Some improvements have been provided on the model: the model considered in [4] is a simplified model where the structure motion is modelled by decoupled and linear equations for the translation, the rotation and the purely elastic displacement. In what follows, we consider on the structure a model which represents the motion of a structure with large rigid displacements and small elastic perturbations. This model, introduced by [15] for a structure alone, leads to coupled and nonlinear equations for the translation, the rotation and the elastic displacement.     

Kinetic wrinkling of an elastic film on a viscoelastic substrate

A compressed elastic film on a compliant substrate can form wrinkles. On an elastic substrate, equilibrium and energetics set the critical condition and select the wrinkle wavelength and amplitude. On a viscous substrate, wrinkle grows over time and the kinetics selects the fastest growing wavelength. More generally, on a viscoelastic substrate, both energetics and kinetics play important roles in determining the critical condition, the growth rate, and the wavelength. This paper studies the wrinkling process of an elastic film on a viscoelastic layer, which in turn lies on a rigid substrate. The film is elastic and modeled by the nonlinear von Karman plate theory. The substrate is linear viscoelastic with a relaxation modulus typical of a cross-linked polymer. Beyond a critical stress, the film wrinkles by the out-of-plane displacement but remains bonded to the substrate. This study considers plane strain wrinkling and neglects the in-plane displacement. A classification of the wrinkling behavior is made based on the critical conditions at the elastic limits, the glassy and rubbery states of the viscoelastic substrate. Linear perturbation analyses are conducted to reveal the kinetics of wrinkling in films subjected to intermediate and large compressive stresses. It is shown that, depending on the stress level, the growth of wrinkles at the initial stage can be exponential, accelerating, linear, or decelerating. In all cases, the wrinkle amplitude saturates at an equilibrium state after a long time. Subsequently, both amplitude and wavelength of the wrinkle evolve, but the process is kinetically constrained and slow compared to the initial growth.     

平面刚架弹塑性大位移分析的多刚体离散元法

本文基于多刚体－弹簧系统模型，给出了求解平面刚架结构弹塑性、大位移极限承载力分析的多刚体离散元法。文中首先推导了多刚体离散元法在总体坐标下的切线刚度阵，建立多刚体离散元法的增量平衡方程；而后推导了多刚体离散元的弹塑性弹簧系数矩阵，建立了多刚体离散元内力屈服面塑性铰法的增量求解格式，成功地进行了平面钢框架的弹塑性、大位移极限承载力分析。计算结果与其他数值方法或实验结果吻合良好，显示了多刚体离散元方法进行结构极限承载力分析这一复杂问题的优越性     

The influence of particle fluctuations on the average rotation in an idealized granular material

Granular materials are a simple example of a Cosserat continuum in that the average particle rotations may differ from the rotation of the average deformation. In the absence of couple stress, this difference insures that the stress is symmetric. This has been shown in theories that assume that the displacement at particle contacts is given by the average deformation and spin. Here, we indicate how the difference between the average rotation of the particles and the average rotation of the deformation can be determined when fluctuations in particle displacements and rotations satisfy local force and moment equilibria in a random aggregate of identical spheres. The predictions based on this model are in better agreement with numerical simulation than that given by the simple average strain theory.     

On the undamped free vibration of a mass interacting with a Hertzian contact stiffness

Three methods are used to determine the natural frequency of undamped free vibration of a mass interacting with a Hertzian contact stiffness. The exact value is determined using the first integral of motion. The harmonic balance method is used on a transformed equation for an approximate solution, and the multiple scales method is used on an approximate equation. The maximum initial displacement avoiding contact loss is also determined, and the corresponding exact natural frequency is also obtained analytically. The methods are evaluated by studying the free vibration of an elastic sphere on a flat rigid surface.     

Macroscopic elastic properties of regular lattices

In this paper we study analytically the elastic properties of the 2-D and 3-D regular lattices consisting of bonded particles. The particle-scale stiffnesses are derived from the given macroscopic elastic constants (i.e. Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio). Firstly a bonded lattice model is presented. This model permits six kinds of relative motion and corresponding forces between each bonded particle pair. By comparing the strain energy distributions between the discrete lattices and the continuum, the explicit relationship between the microscopic and macroscopic elastic parameters can be obtained for the 2-D hexagonal lattice and the 3-D hexagonal close-packed and face-centered cubic structures. The results suggest that the normal stiffness is determined by Young's modulus and the particle size (in 3-D), and that the ratio of the shear to normal stiffness is related to Poisson's ratio. Rotational stiffness depends on the normal stiffness, shear stiffness and particle sizes. Numerical tests are carried out to validate the analytical results. The results in this paper have theoretical implications for the calibration of the spring stiffnesses in the Discrete Element Method.     

复合材料箱型结构的屈曲性态研究

采用带旋转自由度参数C^0类板（壳）单元，研究复合材料箱型结构的初始屈曲性态，在推导单元几何刚度阵时，同时考虑出平面位移和面内位移对膜应变的影响；着重讨论了不同材料正方形截面梁的长细比与欧拉临界力的关系，复合材料典型盒段的截面形式和铺设角，铺设次序对初始屈曲性态的影响。     

基于拟应变法的壳单元大变形分析及在冲击动力问题中的应用

为了简便有效地解决板壳结构的大变形问题，本文针对八节点相对自由度壳单元进行研究。该单元的位移场由壳的中面节点位移和上表面节点的相对位移组成，不带有转动变量。所有的研究都是基于完全的三维位移、应力、应变场。采用拟应变法，对应变场另行假设，能够改善该单元在大变形情况下的计算精度。通过引入Wilson非协调模式，构造了大变形情况下的拟应变场表达式，给出了该单元用于解决非线性动力分析问题的有限元求解方程。通过算例表明，本文针对相对自由度壳单元提出的方法及推导的公式，能够解决冲击动力问题中的大变形问题。     

Perturbation approach to elastic constitutive relations of polycrystals

Herein we obtain a formula for the effective elastic stiffness tensor C^eff of an orthorhombic aggregate of cubic crystallites by the perturbation method. The effective elastic stiffness tensor of the polycrystal gives the relationship between volume average stress and volume average strain. Under Voigt's model, Reuss’ model and Man's theory, the elastic constitutive relation accounts for the effect of the orientation distribution function (ODF) up to terms linear in the texture coefficients. However, the formula derived in this paper delineates the effect of crystallographic texture on elastic response and shows quadratic texture dependence. The formula is very simple. We also consider the influence of grain shape to elastic constitutive relations of polycrystals. Some examples are given to compare computational results of the formula with those given by Voigt's model, Reuss's model, the finite element method, and the self-consistent method. In Section 3, we also present an expression of the perturbation displacement field, in which Green's function for an orthorhombic aggregate of cubic crystallites is included.     

结构有限元分析中阶跃型弹性约束的一种有效处理方法

本文通过引入弹性约束刚度矩阵和结构位移约束列阵，提出了结构有限元分析中处理阶跃型弹性约束的一种有效方法。该法通过改变弹性约束系数及位移非约束量大小，可方便有效地处理结点常弹性约束，刚性约束，阶跃型弹性的约束及阶跃型刚性约束等问题。     

轴对称横观各向同性层状弹性半空间问题受力分析

本文从柱坐标系弹性力学基本方程出发,将位移场和应力场在径向进行Ｈａｎｋｅｌ变换,利用常微分主程求解原理,直接得出在轴对称荷载作用下横观各向同性半无限弹性空间的位移场,利用此结果推导出单层元的刚度矩阵。     

考虑非线性变形的航天器柔性附件建模方法

针对航天器的柔性附件,将其简化为常见的大范围运动空间柔性梁结构。根据柔性体的非线性变形原理,考虑了弯曲和扭转的非线性因素的影响,在柔性梁的三个变形方向上均考虑了变形的二次耦合项。利用有限元方法进行离散并用Lagrange方程建立了非线性变形模式下的动力学方程,包含了较为完全的刚度矩阵和各种耦合项。对一大范围运动的空间梁进行了仿真计算,表明在运动速度较大并且基座具有大范围运动时,一次耦合模型与本文模型有一定差异,且初始变形对两种模型也会产生影响。     

Flexure analysis of circular elastic layers bonded between rigid plates

An elastic layer of circular cross-section which is bonded between rigid plates and subjected to pure bending moment is analyzed through a theoretical approach. Based on two kinematic assumptions, the governing equations for the two horizontal displacement functions are established from the equilibrium equations. The horizontal displacements are then solved by satisfying the stress boundary conditions in the elastic layer. Through these solved displacements, the vertical stress in the elastic layer, the shear stress on the bonding surfaces, and the tilting stiffness of the bonded layer are derived in closed-forms and are also compared with the results of finite element analysis.     

Comparative study of different discrete element models and evaluation of equivalent micromechanical parameters

Comparative studies of different discrete element models of a rock-type material are presented. The discrete element formulation employs spherical particles with the cohesive interaction model combining linear elastic behaviour with brittle failure. Numerical studies consisted in simulation of the uniaxial compression test. Two cylindrical specimens with particle size distributions yielding different degree of heterogeneity have been used. Macroscopic response produced by different discrete element models has been compared. The main difference between the compared models consists in the evaluation of micromechanical constitutive parameters. Two approaches are compared. In the first approach, the contact stiffness and strength parameters depend on the local particle size, while in the second approach, global uniform contact parameters are assumed for all the contacting pairs in function of average geometric measures characterizing the particle assembly. The size dependent contact parameters are calculated as functions of geometric parameters characterizing each contacting particle pair. As geometric scaling parameters, the arithmetic and harmonic means, as well as the minimum of the radii of two contacting particles are considered. Two different models with size dependent contact parameters are formulated. The performance of these models is compared with that of the discrete element model with global uniform contact parameters. Equivalence between the models with size dependent and uniform contact parameters has been checked. In search of this equivalence, different methods of evaluation of global uniform parameters have been studied. The contact stiffness has been evaluated in terms of the average radius of the particle assembly or in terms of the averages of the arithmetic and harmonic means of the contact pair radii, the geometric parameters used in the evaluation of the contact stiffness in the size-dependent models. The uniform contact strengths have been determined as functions of the averages of radii squares, squares of arithmetic radii means or squares of minimum radii of the contacting pairs.For the more homogenous specimen, the models with local size dependent parameters and models with global uniform parameters give similar response. The models with uniform parameters evaluated according to the averages of the geometric parameters used in the evaluation of local parameters ensure better agreement with the respective models with size-dependent parameters than the models with uniform parameters evaluated according to the particle radii. Simulations using the more heterogenous specimen reveal differences between the considered models. There are significant differences in stress–strain curves as well as in the failure pattern. The models with local size-dependent parameters are more sensitive to the change of heterogeneity than the model with global uniform parameters.