Consistently linearized constitutive equations of micromechanical models for fibre composites with evolving damage

The numerical analysis of engineering structures is usually based upon the assumptions of a homogeneous as well as a continuous medium. These simplifications are maintained also for structures made of fibre reinforced composite materials which possess by definition a heterogeneous finescale architecture. Furthermore in the course of the loading of such structures void nucleations might arise out of the debonding of the embedded fibres or the growth of microcracks inside the matrix phase. Hence, the assumption of a continuous and homogeneous medium is not valid from a microscopical point of view. Nevertheless, it is numerically advantageous to keep up these simplifying assumptions on the macrolevel. Therefore, the knowledge of the so called macroscopic or effective material behaviour is needed. The overall properties can be described in terms of volume averaged quantities that smear the heterogeneities of the microscopic structure and the influence of its defects. Since the evolution of damage within composite materials means a rather complex process, a purely phenomenological approach is hardly feasible. Hence, the average properties are to be obtained from a micromechanical analysis of the discontinuous and damaged finescale structure. The efficiently reformulated version of the micromechanically based Generalized Method of Cells (GMC) provides the macroscopic tangential constitutive tensor in closed-form. The numerical efficiency of the approach allows for the use of the GMC as the constitutive model for nonlinear finite element analyses. Two-scale simulations of macroscale composite structures considering process depending damage evolution on the microscale of heterogeneous media becomes feasible.     

纤维增强复合材料弹性性能预测的域分解方法及应用

提出了新的有限元建模方法,即域分解方法,用于预测纤维增强复合材料单向带T300/BSL914C(环氧树脂)和AS4/3501-6(环氧树脂)的弹性性能。域分解方法基于区域叠合技术,分别建立单胞的整体域与纤维域模型用于代替传统有限元建模方法中单胞的基体域与纤维域模型。整体域是真实基体体积与纤维体积的叠加,两区域网格独立划分,互不影响。采用MSC.Nastran中的多节点约束Explicit单元,在整体域与纤维域节点之间建立位移连接属性模拟单胞基体域与纤维域之间的位移约束关系,从而实现两区域的耦合计算。计算结果表明:域分解方法单胞模型纤维增强方向弹性模量Ez预测值与试验值误差在7%以内,其余弹性常数也都与试验值吻合较好。域分解方法不仅可以大大简化纤维增强复合材料的细观力学建模,而且可以准确地预测纤维增强复合材料的弹性性能。     

纤维/金属网增强层板低速冲击损伤机理和演化

本文首先通过落锤低速冲击实验测试了纯玻璃纤维增强环氧树脂复合材料和304不锈钢丝网(SSWM)/玻璃纤维混杂复合材料的力学性能,探究了SSWM嵌入数量对混杂复合材料抗冲击性能的影响．随后采用Abaqus有限元软件建立了混杂复合材料的低速冲击模型,分别采用三维Hashin失效准则和Jason-Cook破坏准则模拟了纤维/基体和SSWM的损伤;建立了基于表面接触的内聚力模型来模拟界面分层;编写了VUMAT用户子程序定义混杂复合材料层合板的渐进失效过程．结果表明：相较于纯玻璃纤维增强环氧树脂层合板,SSWM/玻璃纤维混杂增强环氧树脂层合板的抗冲击性能更优,其中铺层形式为铺层III的混杂复合材料抗冲击性能最佳．通过对比发现有限元仿真结果与实验结果吻合良好,表明建立的模型适用于SSWM/玻璃纤维混杂增强环氧树脂复合材料低速冲击损伤的评估．通过分析仿真结果发现混杂复合材料的低速冲击损伤主要是冲击区域的纤维断裂、基体破坏和层间分层;SSWM通过吸收和传递冲击能量从而提升了混杂复合材料的抗冲击性能．     

多尺度材料模拟的自适应有限元方法研究

研究了材料模拟中一类新型耦合多尺度的自适应有限元方法. 采用微观分子动力学耦合宏观有限元的桥尺度方法来模拟材料破坏的前期行为,其中宏观有限元计算推广到了一般非结构三角形网格. 材料破坏形成后,停止微观尺度的计算,它的进一步发展和演化通过一个宏观模型来描述,采用自适应有限元方法来求解这一宏观模型. 其中,后验误差估计的基础是变分多尺度理论,即自适应网格加密是基于粗尺度上残差分布和细尺度上单元Green's函数. 计算中采用了破坏准则来模拟材料的断裂. 数值实验表明了方法的有效性.      

Flow/damage surfaces for fiber-reinforced metals having different periodic microstructures

Flow/damage surfaces can be defined in terms of stress, inelastic strain rate, and internal variables using a thermodynamics framework. A macroscale definition relevant to thermodynamics and usable in an experimental program is employed to map out surfaces of constant inelastic power in various stress planes. The inelastic flow of a model silicon carbide/titanium composite system having rectangular, hexagonal, and square diagonal fiber packing arrays subjected to biaxial stresses is quantified by flow/damage surfaces that are determined numerically from micromechanics, using both finite element analysis and the generalized method of cells. Residual stresses from processing are explicitly included and damage in the form of fiber–matrix debonding under transverse tensile and/or shear loading is represented by a simple interface model. The influence of microstructural architecture is largest whenever fiber-matrix debonding is not an issue; for example in the presence of transverse compressive stresses. Additionally, as the fiber volume fraction increases, so does the effect of microstructural architecture. These results indicate that microstructural architecture needs to be accounted for in an accurate continuum model, thus complicating development of such a model. With regard to the micromechanics analysis, the overall inelastic flow predicted by the generalized method of cells is in excellent agreement with that predicted using a large number of displacement-based finite elements.     

Distribution-enhanced homogenization framework and model for heterogeneous elasto-plastic problems

Multi-scale computational models offer tractable means to simulate sufficiently large spatial domains comprised of heterogeneous materials by resolving material behavior at different scales and communicating across these scales. Within the framework of computational multi-scale analyses, hierarchical models enable unidirectional transfer of information from lower to higher scales, usually in the form of effective material properties. Determining explicit forms for the macroscale constitutive relations for complex microstructures and nonlinear processes generally requires numerical homogenization of the microscopic response. Conventional low-order homogenization uses results of simulations of representative microstructural domains to construct appropriate expressions for effective macroscale constitutive parameters written as a function of the microstructural characterization. This paper proposes an alternative novel approach, introduced as the distribution-enhanced homogenization framework or DEHF, in which the macroscale constitutive relations are formulated in a series expansion based on the microscale constitutive relations and moments of arbitrary order of the microscale field variables. The framework does not make any a priori assumption on the macroscale constitutive behavior being represented by a homogeneous effective medium theory. Instead, the evolution of macroscale variables is governed by the moments of microscale distributions of evolving field variables. This approach demonstrates excellent accuracy in representing the microscale fields through their distributions. An approximate characterization of the microscale heterogeneity is accounted for explicitly in the macroscale constitutive behavior. Increasing the order of this approximation results in increased fidelity of the macroscale approximation of the microscale constitutive behavior. By including higher-order moments of the microscale fields in the macroscale problem, micromechanical analyses do not require boundary conditions to ensure satisfaction of the original form of Hill's lemma. A few examples are presented in this paper, in which the macroscale DEHF model is shown to capture the microscale response of the material without re-parametrization of the microscale constitutive relations.     

A thermodynamics based damage mechanics model for particulate composites

A micro-mechanical damage model is proposed to predict the overall viscoplastic behavior and damage evolution in a particle filled polymer matrix composite. Particulate composite consists of polymer matrix, particle fillers, and an interfacial transition interphase around the filler particles. Yet the composite is treated as a two distinct phase material, namely the matrix and the equivalent particle-interface assembly. The CTE mismatch between the matrix and the filler particles is introduced into the model. A damage evolution function based on irreversible thermodynamics is also introduced into the constitutive model to describe the degradation of the composite. The efficient general return-mapping algorithm is exploited to implement the proposed unified damage coupled viscoplastic model into finite element formulation. Furthermore, the model predictions for uniaxial loading conditions are compared with the experimental data.     

复合材料层合板低速冲击响应和损伤分析

通过在有限元软件Abaqus/Explicit中编写用户材料子程序VUMAT,建立了一种基于能量演化的复合材料低速冲击渐进损伤模型．该模型以三维Hashin准则来预测层内损伤的起始,以一种简化的损伤变量来模拟层内损伤的演化,将具有双线性牵引-分离本构的零厚度界面单元插入层间来模拟分层损伤．采用该模型对14.7 J冲击能量下的纤维增强复合材料低速冲击过程进行了仿真分析,计算得到的冲击力-时间曲线、能量-时间曲线和损伤分布与试验结果吻合较好．根据数值模拟结果,分析了纤维、基体和分层损伤的扩展规律,为低速冲击下的复合材料结构设计提供了理论依据．     

Numerical homogenization of cracking processes in thin fibre-epoxy layers

Discrete microscale fracture processes in thin fibre-epoxy layers are connected to a mesoscale traction-separation law through a numerical homogenization framework. The microscale fracture processes are studied with the finite element method, where cracking within the epoxy and debonding between fibres and epoxy is simulated by placing interface elements furnished with a mixed-mode interface damage model in between the continuum elements modelling the fibres and epoxy. It is demonstrated how the effective traction-separation response and the corresponding microscale fracture patterns under mesoscale tensile conditions depend on the sample size, the fibre volume fraction and the presence of imperfections.     

Failure surface of epoxy-modified fiber-reinforced composites under transverse tension and out-of-plane shear

The mechanical behavior of uniaxially fiber-reinforced composites with a ductile rubber-toughened epoxy matrix was studied through the finite element analysis of a RVE of the composite microstructure. The fibers were represented by elastic and isotropic solids, while the rubber-modified epoxy matrix behaved as a elasto-viscoplastic solid. The matrix flow stress followed the model developed by Jeong [Jeong, H.-Y., 2002. A new yield function and a hydrostatic stress-controlled void nucleation model for porous solids with pressure-sensitive matrices. International Journal of Solids and Structures 39, 1385–1403.], which included the inherent pressure-sensitivity of the yield stress in the epoxy matrix, the damage due to the cavitation of the rubber particles and subsequent void growth, and the particular features of elastic–viscoplastic behavior in glassy polymers, particularly the intrinsic softening upon yield followed by hardening. Composites with either perfect or weak fiber/matrix interfaces (the latter introduced through cohesive elements) were studied to assess the influence of interface strength on the composite behavior. Simulations under transverse tension and out-of-plane shear were carried out to establish the effect of loading conditions on the dominant deformation and failure micromechanisms. In addition, the corresponding failure locus was obtained and compared with the predictions of current phenomenological failure criteria for composites. The range of validity of these criteria and the areas for further improvement were established by comparison with the numerical results.     

Multi-level modeling of woven glass/epoxy composite for multilayer printed circuit board applications

The objective of this paper is to develop a hybrid homogenization method to predict the elastic properties of a common woven glass/epoxy composite substrate for multilayer circuit board applications. Comprehensive high resolution 3D finite element (FE) models of a quarter of the repeated unit cell (RUC) for the woven glass/epoxy composite were developed based on different micromechanical schemes. . Specifically, four different micromechanics schemes were investigated: self-consistent, Mori–Tanaka, three-phase approach and composite cylinder assemblage (CCA). The element based strain concentration matrices were determined and used to obtain the homogenized woven glass/epoxy composite properties via a specially developed MATLAB code. Attention was further devoted to the predictions of the homogenized elastic moduli of the multilayer printed circuit board (PCB). The results from our simulations, based on Mori–Tanaka and CCA, are in good agreement with existing experimental results, indicating that the newly proposed homogenization scheme can be used as a design tool to predict the overall properties of woven composite materials typically used in multilayer PCB applications.     

Nonlinear progressive damage model for composite laminates used for low-velocity impact

In order to effectively describe the progressively intralaminar and interlam- inar damage for composite laminates, a three dimensional progressive damage model for composite laminates to be used for low-velocity impact is presented. Being applied to three-dimensional （3D） solid elements and cohesive elements, the nonlinear damage model can be used to analyze the dynamic performance of composite structure and its failure be- havior. For the intralaminar damage, as a function of the energy release rate, the damage model in an exponential function can describe progressive development of the damage. For the interlaminar damage, the damage evolution is described by the framework of the continuum mechanics through cohesive elements. Coding the user subroutine VUMAT of the finite element software ABAQUS/Explicit, the model is applied to an example, i.e., carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite laminates under low-velocity impact. It is shown that the prediction of damage and deformation agrees well with the experimental results.     

A concurrent micromechanical model for predicting nonlinear viscoelastic responses of composites reinforced with solid spherical particles

A concurrent micromechanical model for predicting nonlinear viscoelastic responses of particle reinforced polymers is developed. Particles are in the form of solid spheres having micro-scale diameters. The composite microstructures are idealized by periodically distributed cubic particles in a matrix medium. Each particle is assumed to be fully surrounded by polymeric matrix such that contact between particles can be avoided. A representative volume element (RVE) is then defined by a single particle embedded in the cubic matrix. A spatial periodicity boundary condition is imposed to the RVE. One eighth unit-cell model with four particle and polymer subcells is generated due to the three-plane symmetry of the RVE. The solid spherical particle is modeled as a linear elastic material. The polymeric matrix follows nonlinear viscoelastic behaviors of thermorheologically simple materials. The homogenized micromechanical relation is developed in terms of the average strains and stresses in the subcells and traction continuity and displacement compatibility at the subcells’ interfaces are imposed. A stress–strain correction scheme is also formulated to satisfy the linearized micromechanical and the nonlinear constitutive relations. The micromechanical model provides three-dimensional (3D) effective properties of homogeneous composite responses, while recognizing microstructural geometries and in situ material properties of the heterogeneous medium. The micromechanical formulation is designed to be compatible with general displacement based finite element (FE) analyses. Experimental data and analytical micromechanical models available in the literature are used to verify the capability of the above micromechanical model for predicting the overall composite behaviors. The proposed micromodel is also examined in terms of computational efficiency and accuracy.     

Multiscale constitutive modeling and numerical simulation of fabric material

A multiscale model for a fabric material is introduced. The model is based on the assumption that on the macroscale the fabric behaves as a continuum membrane, while on the microscale the properties of the microstructure are accounted for by a constitutive law derived by modeling a pair of overlapping crimped yarns as extensible elasticae. A two-scale finite element method is devised to solve selected boundary-value problems.     

Kevlar纤维增强复合材料动态压缩力学性能实验研究

通过实验较系统地研究了Kevlar纤维增强复合材料的动态压缩力学性能,实验结果表明,在冲击压缩载荷作用下Kevlar纤维增强复合材料有明显的损伤软化现象和应变率效应,针对Kevlar纤维增强复合材料动态应力应变实验曲线,提出了含损伤的率相关动态本构方程,由于所引入的损伤最反映了Kevlar纤维增强复合材料内部基体开裂、脱层、纤维断裂等多种破坏模式的总体效果,因此所提出的本构方程形式相对说来比较简便并易于嵌入目前有关冲击力学的有限元或有限差分程序,有一定的工程应用价值。     

Effect of interface fracture on the tensile deformation of fiber-reinforced elastomers

The influence of interface properties (strength and toughness) on the tensile behavior of fiber-reinforced elastomers deformed perpendicularly to the fibers was studied using computational micromechanics. Numerical simulations were performed by means of the finite element analysis of a representative volume element of the composite microstructure. The effect of finite deformations and of interface fracture was included in the simulations, the latter through a bidimensional and quadratic interface element inserted at the fiber/matrix interfaces. A parametrical study was carried out to assess the effect of interface strength and toughness on the tensile strength and damage micromechanisms. It was found that the onset of damage and tensile strength were controlled by interface strength while the evolution of damage depended on interface toughness.     

短纤维金属基复合材料应力传递的有限元分析

基于短纤维增强金属基复合材料的单纤维轴对称和三维细观力学模型,利用弹塑性有限元分析方法对该复合材料中基体与纤维间的应力传递进行研究,研究中主要讨论了基体、纤维和界面的力学性能以及纤维位向的变化对应力传递和应力分布的影响。研究表明,复合材料微结构参数的变化将显著影响基体与纤维间的应力传递和复合材料中的应力分布,复合材料设计过程中必须考虑合理的微结构特征。     

Finite element analysis of frequency spectra for elastic waveguides

The finite element theory is presented for the analysis of the dispersive characteristics of elastic waveguides of arbitrary cross-section. The necessary mass and stiffness properties of circular core, circular sleeve, rectangular, and triangular elements are developed. The practical application of these new elements is demonstrated in the calculation of frequency spectra for circular, square, and triangular waveguides and for a fiber reinforced composite. The dispersive characteristics of the composite material are determined from a formulation which models the fiber as a cylinder and the surrounding matrix material as a rectangular section. The numerical results obtained by the finite element analysis are also compared with the available results from other methods.