Microstructure damage at ensemble of points for grain composites

Fracture concentration zones are considered in microstructure elements of grain composites. Mathematical model of micro-heterogeneous medium with random properties of elements is used for calculations. The distribution laws for the modules of elasticity and ultimate strengths in the elements as well as the tensor of macroscopic deformations for the composite serve as the initial data. Different types of stresses are evaluated. Correlation functions for micro stresses are obtained by the Green’s tensor method.Random microstructure strength condition is a difference between the stress and the ultimate strength at any point of an ensemble with a particular configuration. The probability of simultaneously exceeding the ultimate strength in this set of elements determines the likelihood of failure of this ensemble of points and the relative damage at the micro level.The damage is calculated using multivariate normal distribution. Structure of correlation matrix of distribution depends on the type of fracture concentration zones. Correlation functions of microstructure strength condition depend on the distance between the points of the ensemble. Calculations of multipoint damage are provided for several configurations of points, in particular, for the three points on a straight line segment, and for the five points in the vertices and the center of a tetrahedron. For two-dimensional distribution density, the smoothing surface formulas are derived, taking into account the moments of stresses up to and including the fourth order.The influence of microstructure properties and the type of ensemble of points on composite damage is demonstrated. Study of microstructure damage enables the prediction of early stages of construction material failure.     

Short-Term Microdamageability of Fibrous Composites with Transversally Isotropic Fibers and a Microdamaged Binder

The theory of microdamageability of fibrous composites with transversally isotropic fibers and a microdamaged isotropic porous matrix is proposed. Microdamages in the matrix are simulated by pores filled with particles of the destroyed material that resist compression. The criterion of damage in the matrix microvolume is taken in the Schleicher–Nadai form. It accounts for the difference between the ultimate tensile and compressive loads. The ultimate strength is a random function of coordinates with Weibull distribution. The stress–strain state and effective properties of the material are determined from the stochastic equations of the elastic theory for a fibrous composite with porous components. The equations of deformation and microdamage are closed by the equations of porosity balance in the matrix. Nonlinear diagrams of the concurrent processes of deformation of fibrous materials and microdamage of the matrix are plotted. The effect of the physical and geometrical parameters on them is studied     

Theory of Short-Term Microdamageability of Granular Composite Materials

The theory of microdamageability of granular composites is outlined through the simulation of microdamages in the components by pores filled with compression-resisting particles of a destroyed material. The damage criterion for a microvolume of a component is taken in the Schleicher–Nadai form, which allows for the difference between the ultimate tensile and compressive loads. The ultimate strength is a random function of Weibull-distributed coordinates. The stress–strain state and the efficient properties of the material are determined from the stochastic equations of elastic theory for a granular composite with porous components. The equations of deformation and microdamage are closed by the equations of porosity balance in the components. Nonlinear diagrams of the concurrent processes of deformation in the granular material and microdamage in the matrix are plotted. The effect of the physical and geometrical parameters on them is studied     

Simulation of the Short-Term Microdamageability of Laminated Composites

The theory of microdamageability of multicomponent laminated composites is outlined through the simulation of microdamages in the components by pores filled with compression-resisting particles of the destroyed material. The damage criterion for a microvolume of a component is taken in the Schleicher–Nadai form, which allows for the difference between the ultimate tensile and compressive loads. The ultimate strength is a random function of Weibull-distributed coordinates. The stress–strain state and the efficient properties of the material are determined from the stochastic equations of the elastic theory for a laminated composite with porous components. The equations of deformation and microdamage are closed by the equations of porosity balance in the components. Nonlinear diagrams of the concurrent processes of deformation in the laminated material and microdamage in the matrix are plotted. The effect of the physical and geometrical parameters on them is studied     

The Micromechanics of Short-Term Damageability of Fibrolaminar Composites

A theory of microdamageability is constructed for fibrous laminated composites consisting of transversally isotropic fibers and a microdamaged isotropic porous binder. Microdamages in the binder are simulated by pores filled with compression-resisting particles of the destroyed material. Damage in a microvolume of the binder is described by the Schleicher–Nadai strength criterion, which allows for the difference between the ultimate tensile and compressive loads. The ultimate strength is a random function of coordinates with the Weibull distribution. The stress–strain state and effective characteristics of the material are determined by solving the stochastic equations of elastic theory for a fibrous laminated composite with a porous binder. The equations of deformation and microdamageability are closed by the equations of porosity balance in the binder. Nonlinear diagrams of the concurrent processes of deformation of the fibrous laminated material and microdamage of the matrix for various physical and geometrical parameters are constructed     

Modeling the Short-Term Damageability of a Transversely Isotropic Piezoelectric Material

A short-term microdamage theory for porous transversely isotropic piezoelectric materials is set forth. Microdamages are modeled by pores. The fracture criterion for a microvolume of a transversely isotropic medium is assumed to have the Huber–Mises form. The ultimate strength is a random function of coordinates with an exponential or Weibull distribution. The stress–strain distribution and effective properties of the material are determined from the stochastic electroelastic equations. The deformation and microdamage equations are closed by the porosity balance equations. For various values of electric intensity, the microdamage–macrodeformation relationships and deformation curves are plotted. The effect of electric intensity on the microdamage of piezoelectric materials is studied     

Short-Term Microdamageability of Laminated Materials under Thermal Actions

The theory of microdamageability of laminated materials is stated with account taken of the thermal effect. Microdamages in the components are simulated by pores empty or filled with particles of damaged material that resist compression. The fracture criterion is assumed to have the Nadai–Schleicher form, which takes into account the difference between the tensile and compressive ultimate loads, with the ultimate strength being a random function of coordinates with a power or Weibull distribution. The stress–strain state and the effective properties of the material are determined from the thermoelastic equations for laminated materials with porous components. The deformation and microdamage equations are closed by the equations of porosity balance corrected for the thermal effect. For various types of loading, nonlinear relations are derived for the coupled processes of deformation of a two-component laminated material and microdamage due to the thermal macrostrain of a component. The effect of physical and geometrical parameters on these processes is studied.     

Deformation and Microdamage of a Discrete-Fibrous Composite with Transversely Isotropic Components

The theory of microdamage for materials with a transversely isotropic matrix and unidirectional ellipsoid-like fibers is set forth. Microdamage is modeled by empty pores. The failure criterion for a microvolume is assumed to have the Huber–Mises form where the ultimate strength is a random function of coordinates with a power or Weibull distribution. The stress–strain state and effective properties of the material are determined from the theory of elasticity for materials with a transversely isotropic matrix and unidirectional fibers. The deformation and microdamage equations are closed by the porosity-balance equations. The nonlinear dependences of the coupled processes of deformation and microdamage on macrodeformations are constructed. The effect of physical and geometrical parameters on the processes is studied     

Short-Term Damage Micromechanics of Laminated Fibrous Composites Under Thermal Actions

A microdamage theory is constructed for laminated fibrous materials with transversely isotropic fibers and a porous isotropic matrix under thermal actions. Microdamages in the matrix are simulated by pores, empty or filled with particles of the damaged material that resist compression. The fracture criterion for a microvolume of the matrix is assumed to have the Nadai–Schleicher form, which takes into account the difference between the tensile and compressive ultimate loads, with the ultimate strength being a random function of coordinates with a power or Weibull distribution. The stress–strain state and the effective properties of the material are determined from the thermoelastic equations for laminated fibrous materials with a porous matrix. The deformation and microdamage equations are closed by the porosity balance equations corrected for the thermal effect. For various types of loading, nonlinear relations are derived for the coupled processes of deformation of a laminated fibrous material and microdamage of the matrix due to the thermal macrostrain. The effect of physical and geometrical parameters on these processes is studied.     

Short-Term Microdamageability of Fibrous Materials with Transversely Isotropic Fibers Under Thermal Actions

The theory of microdamageability of fibrous materials with transversely isotropic fibers is stated with account taken of the thermal effect. Microdamages in the isotropic matrix are simulated by pores empty or filled with particles of damaged material that resist compression. The fracture criterion for a microvolume of the matrix is assumed to have the Nadai–Schleicher form, which takes into account the difference between the tensile and compressive ultimate loads, with the ultimate strength being a random function of coordinates with a power or Weibull distribution. The stress–strain state and the effective properties of the material are determined from the thermoelastic equations for fibrous materials with a porous matrix. The deformation and microdamage equations are closed by the equations of porosity balance corrected for the thermal effect. For various types of loading, nonlinear relations are derived for the coupled processes of deformation of a fibrous material and microdamage of the matrix due to the thermal macrostrain. The effect of physical and geometrical parameters on these processes is studied.     

Micromechanics-based elastic damage modeling of particulate composites with weakened interfaces

A micromechanical framework is proposed to predict the effective elastic behavior and weakened interface evolution of particulate composites. The Eshelby’s tensor for an ellipsoidal inclusion with slightly weakened interface [Qu, J., 1993a. Eshelby tensor for an elastic inclusion with slightly weakened interfaces. Journal of Applied Mechanics 60 (4), 1048–1050; Qu, J., 1993b. The effect of slightly weakened interfaces on the overall elastic properties of composite materials. Mechanics of Materials 14, 269–281] is adopted to model spherical particles having imperfect interfaces in the composites and is incorporated into the micromechanical framework. Based on the Eshelby’s micromechanics, the effective elastic moduli of three-phase particulate composites are derived. A damage model is subsequently considered in accordance with the Weibull’s probabilistic function to characterize the varying probability of evolution of weakened interface between the inclusion and the matrix. The proposed micromechanical elastic damage model is applied to the uniaxial, biaxial and triaxial tensile loadings to predict the various stress–strain responses. Comparisons between the present predictions with other numerical and analytical predictions and available experimental data are conducted to assess the potential of the present framework.     

A Note on the Theory of Short-Term Microdamageability of Granular Composites under Thermal Actions

The theory of microdamageability of granular composites is stated with allowance made for the thermal effect. Microdamages in the components are modeled by pores, hollow or filled with particles of the destroyed material that resist compression. The fracture criterion is assumed to have the Schleicher–Nadai form, which takes into account the difference between the tensile and compressive ultimate loads, with the ultimate strength being a random function with a power or Weibull distribution. The stress–strain state and effective properties of the material are determined from the stochastic thermoelastic equations for granular composites with porous components. The equations of deformation and microdamage are closed by the equation of porosity balance corrected for the thermal effect. Nonlinear diagrams are plotted for the concurrent processes of deformation of a granular material and microdamage of the matrix as functions of macrostrains and temperature. The influence of the physical and geometrical parameters on the processes is analyzed.     

Statistical characterization of meso-scale uniaxial compressive strength in brittle materials with randomly occurring flaws

Increasingly fine spatial resolution in numerical models of brittle materials promises to improve prediction and characterization of dynamic failure in these materials. However, as the resolution of these numerical models begins to approach the material micro-scale, the associated discretization requires a definitive connection to the microstructure. In many cases a numerical model (e.g., a finite element mesh) that explicitly resolves each flaw within the material is not feasible for macro-scale analyses. As an alternative, each element can be treated as a meso-scale continuum with constitutive properties that reflect the characteristics of the underlying microstructure. Small scale elements will exhibit random variations in the constitutive properties as a result of the random variations in the number and types of flaws and the flaw sizes contained within each element. The present paper proposes a technique for assigning probability distributions to these element properties, which can be thought of as the meso-scale constitutive properties. In particular, the strain-rate dependent compressive uniaxial strength of a ceramic is modeled using a two-dimensional analytical model developed by Paliwal and Ramesh (2008). The effect on the probability distribution of meso-scale (or element-level) strength from flaw density, flaw size distribution, flaw clustering, and strain rate are studied. Higher strain rates, more flaw clustering, and decreasing element size all contribute to greater scatter in uniaxial compressive strength. Variations in flaw size increase the scatter in the strength more for low strain rate loadings and less clustered microstructures. The results provide interesting comparisons to the classical assumption of a two-parameter Weibull-distributed strength, showing that a three-parameter Weibull distribution and even a lognormal distribution fit better with the simulated strength data.     

Scale-dependent constitutive relations and the role of scale on nominal properties

Size effects in strength and fracture energy of heterogeneous materials is considered within a context of scale-dependent constitutive relations. Using tools of wavelet analysis, and considering the failure state of a one-dimensional solid, constitutive relations which include scale as a parameter are derived from a ‘background’ gradient formulation. In the resulting theory, scale is not a fixed quantity independent of deformation, but rather directly dependent on the global deformation field. It is shown that strength or peak nominal stress (maximum point at the engineering stress–strain diagram) decreases with specimen size while toughness or total work to fracture per nominal area (area under the curve in the engineering stress–strain diagram integrated along the length of the considered one-dimensional specimen) increases. This behavior is in agreement with relevant experimental findings on heterogeneous materials where the overall mechanical response is determined by variations in local material properties. The scale-dependent constitutive relations are calibrated from experimental data on concrete specimens.     

Localization of deformation and stress–strain relation for mesoscopic heterogeneous brittle rock materials under unloading

Stress redistribution induced by excavation of underground engineering and slope engineering results in the unloading zone in parts of surrounding rock masses. The mechanical behaviors of crack-weakened rock masses under unloading are different from those of crack-weakened rock masses under loading. A micromechanics-based model has been proposed for brittle rock material undergoing irreversible changes of their microscopic structures due to microcrack growth when axial stress is held constant while lateral confinement is reduced. The basic idea of the present model is to classify the constitution relation of rock material into four stages including some of the stages of linear elasticity, pre-peak nonlinear hardening, rapid stress drop, and strain softening, and to investigate their corresponding micromechanical damage mechanisms individually. Special attention is paid to the transition from structure rearrangements on microscale to the macroscopic inelastic strain, to the transition from distribution damage to localization of damage and the transition from homogeneous deformation to localization of deformation. The closed-form explicit expression for the complete stress–strain relation of rock materials containing cracks under unloading is obtained. The results show that the complete stress–strain relation and the strength of rock materials under unloading depend on the crack spacing, the fracture toughness of rock materials, orientation of the cracks, the crack half-length and the crack density parameter.     

Stress Distribution in an Orthotropic Plate with Circular Holes under Impulsive Loading

The photoelastic method is used to analyze the stress–strain state induced by an impulsive load in an orthotropic plate with circular holes. The distribution of dynamic stress concentration factors along the periphery of the holes is studied, and stresses and strains in representative sections are determined     

Study of the Nonlinearly Elastic State of an Orthotropic Cylindrical Shell with a Hole, Using Mixed Functionals

An analogy is established between some terms of the functionals under consideration and the formulas of the theory of random processes. On this basis, the efficiency of mixed functionals is attributed to a deeper minimum they help to reach by taking the energy of so-called false strains into consideration. We perform a numerical stress—strain analysis of an organoplastic cylindrical shell with a side circular hole and study how the orthotropy and nonlinear properties of the composite affect the stress distribution near the hole. The case is discovered where the orientation of the composite about the cylindrical shell changes so that a larger nonlinear effect corresponds to a smaller initial stress     

Numerical Nonaxisymmetric Thermostress Analysis of Compound Solids of Revolution with Damage

A technique is proposed to allow for deformation damage of cylindrically orthotropic elastic materials in a thermoelastoplastic stress–strain analysis of composite bodies of revolution under nonaxisymmetric loading and heating     

Triaxial compressive behavior of rock with mesoscopic heterogenous behavior: Strain energy density factor approach

The strain energy density factor approach is used in conjunction with a micromechanics model to investigate the condition and direction of shear failure for brittle rock subjected to triaxial compression. Moderate confinement in addition to localized deformation and damage are considered. Quantified are the effects of the various geometric and load parameters that involve the interaction of microcrack, friction and the confining pressure such that the path of the wing crack is taken into account. The influence of all microcracks with different orientations are introduced into the constitutive relation. The closed-form solution for the complete stress–strain relation of rock containing microcracks is obtained. It is shown that the complete stress–strain relationship includes linear, nonlinear hardening, rapid stress drop and strain softening effects. The theoretical results show that deviation of the direction of wing cracks from the line of the pre-existing crack decreases with increasing confinement pressure and friction coefficient. Theoretical predictions and experimental results show good agreement.     

A heuristic approach to microcracking and fracture for ceramics with statistical consideration

Microcracking damage and toughening are examined for ceramics. These effects have been found to depend on the material microstructure and macrocrack growth. Isotropic damage, attributed to random distribution of microcrack location, length and orientation can be associated with a disordered microstructure and a non-uniform residual stress field. When the applied stress is the main cause of cracking, the microcrack distribution is no longer random such as a system of quasi-parallel cracks. To highlight the effect of crack interaction, discrete models are advanced where damage is simulated by a distribution of microcracks. The dilute concentration assumption is invoked to simplify the analysis.The two-dimensional discrete model is based on a phenomenological approach that is statistical in character. Interactions of microcracks and with a macrocrack are considered by means of a boundary element technique (A. Brencich, A. Carpinteri, Int. J. Fracture 76 (1996) 373–389; A. Brencich, A. Carpinteri, Eng. Fract. Mech. 59 (1998) 797–814) where both isotropic and anisotropic damage could be treated. Comparisons with other results are made to show that the model can be applied to analyse the fracture behaviour of different materials.