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.     

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.     

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.     

Micromechanics of elasto-plastic materials reinforced with ellipsoidal inclusions

The effective mechanical behavior of an elasto-plastic matrix reinforced with a random and homogeneous distribution of aligned elastic ellipsoids was obtained by the finite element simulation of a representative volume element (RVE) of the microstructure and by homogenization methods. In the latter, the composite behavior was modeled by linearization of the local behavior through the use of the tangent or secant stiffness tensors of the phases. “Quasi-exact” results for the tensile deformation were attained by averaging of the stress-strain curves coming from the numerical simulation of RVEs containing a few dozens of ellipsoids. These results were used as benchmarks to assess the accuracy of the homogenization models. The best approximations to the reference numerical results were provided by the incremental and the second-order secant methods, while the classical or first-order secant approach overestimated the composite flow stress, particularly when the composite was deformed in the longitudinal direction. The discrepancies among the homogenization models and the numerical results were assessed from the analysis of the stress and strain microfields provided by the numerical simulations, which demonstrated the dominant effect of the localization of the plastic strain in the matrix on the accuracy of the homogenization models.     

Dynamic crushing of sandwich panels with prismatic lattice cores

The dynamic out-of-plane compressive response of stainless steel corrugated and Y-frame sandwich cores have been investigated for impact velocities ranging from quasi-static to 200 ms⁻¹. Laboratory-scale sandwich cores of relative density 2.5% were manufactured and the stresses on the front and rear faces of the dynamically compressed sandwich cores were measured using a direct impact Kolsky bar. Direct observational evidence is provided for micro-inertial stabilisation of both topologies against elastic buckling at impact velocities below 30 ms⁻¹. At higher impact velocities, plastic waves within the core members result in the front face stresses increasing with increasing velocity while the rear face stresses remain approximately constant. While the finite element calculations predict the rear face stresses and dynamic deformation modes to reasonable accuracy, the relatively slow response time of the measurement apparatus results in poor agreement between the measured and predicted front face stresses. The finite element calculations also demonstrate that material strain-rate effects have a negligible effect upon the dynamic compressive response of laboratory-scale and full-scale sandwich cores.     

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.     

轻质点阵超结构设计及多功能力学性能调控方法

随着先进制造技术、多学科交叉和人工智能科技的飞速发展,高端装备呈现出轻量化、集成化、复合化、功能化、智能化、柔性化和仿生化等发展趋势.传统结构研究存在结构设计和制造相互分离,复杂结构制造效率低、实际制造结构的性能指标和使用可靠性大幅低于设计理论预测、结构多功能一体化程度不足、经济成本过高等问题.此外,先进工业装备对材料、结构的使用性能、使用环境要求越来越高,亟需开展结构的设计、制造、功能、应用一体化研究,为解决我国先进制造“卡脖子”技术难题提供理论依据和技术支持.轻量化多功能点阵超结构具有轻质高强、抗冲击吸能、减振降噪等性能优势,在航空航天、交通运输、国防、生物医疗、能源、机械等工业领域具有巨大的应用潜力.有鉴于此,受多晶体微结构的多尺度力学设计启发,以“点阵超结构力学设计”为主题,开展点阵超结构的节点、杆件组元,胞元类型、双相结构、梯度结构、多层级结构等典型点阵超结构的几何构筑和力学设计,并阐明多晶体多尺度微观结构启发的点阵超结构力学设计基本原理、多功能力学性能调控方法,以及点阵超结构在不同类型载荷下的结构变形和失效物理机理.     

Elastodynamic behavior of mechanical cloaks designed by direct lattice transformations

Steering waves in elastic solids is more demanding than steering waves in electromagnetism or acoustics. As a result, designing material distributions which are the counterpart of optical invisibility cloaks in elasticity poses a major challenge. Waves of all polarizations should be guided around an obstacle to emerge on the downstream side as though no obstacle were there. Recently, we have introduced the direct-lattice-transformation approach. This simple and explicit construction procedure led to extremely good cloaking results in the static case. Here, we transfer this approach to the dynamic case, i.e., to elastic waves or phonons. We demonstrate broadband reduction of scattering, with best suppressions exceeding a factor of five when using cubic coordinate transformations instead of linear ones. To reliably and quantitatively test these cloaks efficiency, we use an effective-medium approach.     

The mechanical properties of leather

Summary The many uses of leather have largely relied on the range of mechanical properties which it can provide, according to the raw material employed in its manufacture and the manufacturing processes themselves. The contrasting behaviour of a stiff sole leather and of a fine gloving leather exemplify this point. The last twenty years have seen intensive investigation of many mechanical properties of leather and the design of test methods now accepted internationally.At ambient temperatures and humidities most types of leather show mainly elastic behaviour, although delayed elastic effects may give the semblance of plasticity. The stress relaxation-time relation for constant linear strain shows the stress decaying linearly with log (time). The stress decay becomes discontinuous after sufficient time. The stress-strain relation for extension of leather strips is often markedly non-linear even at low strains (<2%). Two dimensional extension of leather has been analysed using an instrument allowing independent extension in two perpendicular directions. To a first approximation each stress component is linearly related to the two elastic strain components in the perpendicular directions.As with other materials of biological origin, the mechanical behaviour of leather varies from place to place in the skin, not only over its area, but also through its thickness. The extent of variation is briefly discussed and related to the underlying fibre structure.Leather which has been strained and then subjected to either heat alone or heat and moisture, shows much more extensive plasticity than occurs at lower temperatures. This behaviour has been used to enable leather to be given appropriate shapes, as in the heat setting of upper leathers. Quantitative studies of heat setting are reported and the influence of such variables as temperature, moisture content of the applied air stream, the air stream velocity and the duration of treatment are discussed. The plastic deformation obtained in this way is contrasted with run in gloving leather.With 3 figures and 2 tables     

On the method of equivalent inclusions in elastodynamics and the scattering fields of two ellipsoidal inhomogeneities

Gurtin’s variational principle is used to derive the equivalence equalions for general linear elastodynamical problems of multiple inhomogeneities. An approximate expression on scattering field of two ellipsoidal inhomogeneities is obtained by the method of equivalent inclusions. And some numerical examples are presented.     

Determination of mechanical properties by instrumented indentation

The paper reviews the current state of the depth-sensing indentation (sometimes called nanoindentation), where the information on material behaviour and properties is obtained from the indenter load and depth, measured continuously during loading and unloading. It is shown how the contact parameters and principal characteristics are determined using pointed or spherical indenters. Indentation tests can be used for the measurement of hardness and elastic modulus, and also of the yield stress and for the construction of stress–strain diagrams, for the determination of the work of indentation and its components. Most devices use monotonic loading and unloading, but some also enable measurement under a small harmonic signal added to the basic monotonously increasing load. This makes possible continuous measurement of contact stiffness and the study of dynamic properties and the determination of properties of coatings. One section is devoted to the measurement on viscoelastic-plastic materials, where the delayed deforming must be considered during the measurement as well as in data evaluation. Instrumented indentation can also be used for the study of creep under high temperatures. The paper also discusses the errors arising in depth-sensing measurements and informs briefly about some other possibilities of the method.     

The warping functions of regular prismatic bars under torsion evaluated by caustics

Reflection of a bundle of coherent light on the warped cross section of a prismatic bar submitted to torsion forms a caustic on a receiver plane. From the mathematical expression of this curve and the theory of reflected caustics, it is possible to evaluate accurately the warping function of the cross section. Using this idea, it was possible to study the torsion problem in prismatic bars with sections which were equilateral triangles and squares. It was observed that the shape of the caustic is an hypocycloid curve with three or four cusps respectively. By evaluating the warping function by using elements from the respective caustics it was possible to find out that, for the triangular cross section, the expression for the warping function coincided exactly with the expression given by the exact solution of the problem. For the square cross section, a closed-form solution for its warping function was readily derived, to which the series approximation solution differed only by a few percent at maximum for the shear stresses. Since the method can be readily extended to any canonical polygonic cross section, it constitutes a general solution for the torsion of prismatic bars, which approximates their exact deformations better than the solutions based on the Saint-Vénant assumptions.