磁致伸缩复合材料有效性能的变分渐近细观力学模型

基于一种新颖的建模方法——变分渐近均匀化理论,建立了磁致伸缩复合材料的细观力学模型,以准确预测材料的有效属性和局部应力、磁通密度分布。从建立磁致伸缩复合材料的总磁焓入手,将总磁焓中的场变量精确解表示为平均值和波动函数之和。根据最小势能原理,利用细宏观尺度比作为小参数对约束条件下总磁焓求驻值(最小化)建立细观力学模型。为分析实际工程中的微观结构,利用有限元离散技术实现构建模型的数值模拟。CoFe_2O_4/环氧树脂复合材料数值算例结果表明:构建的模型可准确预测磁致伸缩复合材料的有效属性和局部场分布,并可扩展到其他多相复合材料的有效属性和局部场分析中。     

Deformation micromechanics in high-modulus fibres and composites

It is demonstrated that Raman spectroscopy can be used to study the deformation micromechanics of aramid fibres and of the fibres in a model single-fibre composite with an epoxy resin matrix. It is shown that the peak position of the 1610cm⁻¹ aramid Raman band shifts to lower frequency under the action of stress or strain as a result of the macroscopic deformation leading to direct stretching of the aramid molecules. The strain-induced band shifts can be used to follow the deformation of the aramid fibres in a composite matrix. This allows the distribution of strain to be mapped along a fibre, and it is shown that the behaviour is consistent with that predicted by the classical shear-lag analysis. It is also demonstrated that the interfacial shear stress can be calculated from the distribution of strain along the fibre. Finally, the technique is extended to measure the strain in fibres in a single-fibre composite which are aligned at an angle to the tensile axis. In this case it is shown that the strain in the centre of the fibres is identical to that predicted by classical elasticity theory.     

On the Barzilai-Borwein basic scheme in FFT-based computational homogenization

Building upon the equivalence of the basic scheme in the work of Moulinec and Suquet with gradient descent methods, we investigate the effect of using the celebrated Barzilai-Borwein step size selection technique in this context. We provide an overview of recent convergence theory and present efficient implementations in the context of computational micromechanics, with and without globalization. In contrast to polarization schemes and fast gradient methods, no lower bound on the eigenvalues of the material tangent is necessary for the Barzilai-Borwein scheme. We demonstrate the power of the proposed method for linear elastic and inelastic large scale problems with finite and infinite material contrast.     

On boundary conditions for homogenization of volume elements undergoing localization

This paper presents an adaption of periodic boundary conditions (BC), which is termed tessellation BC. While periodic BC restrict strain localization zones to obey the periodicity of the microstructure, the proposed tessellation BC adjust the periodicity frame to meet the localization zone. Thereby, arbitrary developing localization zones are permitted. Still the formulation is intrinsically unsusceptible against spurious localization. Additionally, a modification of the Hough transformation is derived, which constitutes an unbiased criterion for the detection of the localization zone. The behavior of the derived formulation is demonstrated by various examples and compared with other BC. It is thereby shown that tessellation BC lead to a reasonable dependence of the effective stress on the localization direction. Furthermore, good convergence of stiffness values with increasing size of the representative volume element is shown as well as beneficial characteristics in use with strain softening material.     

Woven fabric composites—developments in engineering bounds,homogenization and applications

Various approaches for approximating upper and lower bounds for the elastic stiffness tensor for general woven fabric composites are first described. Well accepted minimum energy principles are briefly presented to establish the foundation for practical finite element procedures for determining these bounds. Secondly, comparisons of four common homogenization procedures are shown: the strain energy balance method, the plate approximation method, a direct approach via area averaging, and asymptotic expansion homogenization. As a limiting case, all of the methods obtain the well‐known Rule of Mixtures for a unidirectional uniaxial specimen. In attempting to consolidate much of the existing knowledge of structural constitutive models for woven fabric composites, this research seeks to summarize and compare various homogenization methods via finite element analyses. Finally, some illustrative applications are presented. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On Bhattacharyya relative entropy in a homogenization of composite materials

The main idea of this work is an application of relative entropy in the numerical analysis of probabilistic divergence between original material tensors of the composite constituents and its effective tensor in the presence of material uncertainties. The homogenization method is based upon the deformation energy of the representative volume elements for the fiber-reinforced and particulate composites and uncertainty propagation begins with elastic moduli of the fibers, particles, and composite matrices. Relative entropy follows a mathematical model originating from Bhattacharyya probabilistic divergence and has been applied here for Gaussian distributions. The semi-analytical probabilistic method based on analytical integration of polynomial bases obtained via the least squares method fittings enables for determination of the basic probabilistic characteristics of the effective tensor and the relative entropies. The methodology invented in this work may be extended toward other probability distributions and relative entropies, for homogenization of nonlinear composites and also accounting for some structural interface defects.     

Reliability evaluation of automated analysis, 2D scanner,and micro-tomography methods for measuring fiber dimensions in polymer-lignocellulosic fiber composites

Composite processing strongly affects the size of lignocellulosic fibers, and consequently the mechanical properties of the final product. Using a reliable method for the analysis of fiber length and diameter distributions is thus crucial for the understanding of fiber behavior during processing. In this study, three different techniques, X-ray microtomography, 2D scanning and automated fiber analyzer, were compared in terms of their reliability for the characterization of dimensions of two kinds of lignocellulosic fibers, hemp and miscanthus, in polymer-natural fiber composites. Statistical analysis was employed to interpret fiber size distributions. The study confirmed that interpreting the dimensions of natural fiber is still a difficult task. The inherent limitations of the measuring methods make each technique complementary to the others in terms of length scale. The choice of the technique is, therefore, strictly dependent on fiber dimensions and the aim of the work.     

On the optimum support size in meshfree methods: A variational adaptivity approach with maximum‐entropy approximants

We present a method for the automatic adaption of the support size of meshfree basis functions in the context of the numerical approximation of boundary value problems stemming from a minimum principle. The method is based on a variational approach, and the central idea is that the variational principle selects both the discretized physical fields and the discretization parameters, here those defining the support size of each basis function. We consider local maximum‐entropy approximation schemes, which exhibit smooth basis functions with respect to both space and the discretization parameters (the node location and the locality parameters). We illustrate by the Poisson, linear and non‐linear elasticity problems the effectivity of the method, which produces very accurate solutions with very coarse discretizations and finds unexpected patterns of the support size of the shape functions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.