Effective Elastic and Plastic Properties of Interpenetrating Multiphase Composites

In interpenetrating phase composites, there are at least two phases that are each interconnected in three dimensions, constructing a topologically continuous network throughout the microstructure. The dependence relation between the macroscopically effective properties and the microstructures of interpenetrating phase composites is investigated in this paper. The effective elastic moduli of such kind of composites cannot be calculated from conventional micromechanics methods based on Eshelby's tensor because an interpenetrating phase cannot be extracted as dispersed inclusions. Using the concept of connectivity, a micromechanical cell model is first presented to characterize the complex microstructure and stress transfer features and to estimate the effective elastic moduli of composites reinforced with either dispersed inclusions or interpenetrating networks. The Mori–Tanaka method and the iso-stress and iso-strain assumptions are adopted in an appropriate manner of combination by decomposing the unit cell into parallel and series sub-cells, rendering the calculation of effective moduli quite easy and accurate. This model is also used to determine the elastoplastic constitutive relation of interpenetrating phase composites. Several typical examples are given to illustrate the application of this method. The obtained analytical solutions for both effective elastic moduli and elastoplastic constitutive relations agree well with the finite element results and experimental data.     

Micromechanical Modeling of the Effective Viscoelastic Properties of Inhomogeneous Materials Using Fraction-exponential Operators

A new analytical approach for’ micromechanical modeling of the effective viscoelastic behavior of a’ composite material is presented. Fractionexponential operators are. used to describe the viscoelastic properties of the constituents. To construct the corresponding elastic solution, effective field method is used. Effective viscoelastic operators are obtained from the Volter ra’s elasticity-viscoelasticity correspondence principle. Incompatible deformation that often occurs during the manufacturiig process is taken intp account. All the formulas are obtained in explicit ready-to-use form.     

颗粒填充二元复合材料等效介电特性的修正通用有效介质计算公式

介电特性在复合材料的电磁效应研究和材料设计中具有重要的作用。本工作在研究传统通用有效介质(GEM,General Effective Medium)公式的局限性基础上,提出了用于预测和计算颗粒填充二元复合材料等效介电特性的修正通用有效介质(MGEM,Modified General Effective Medium)公式。运用MC-FEM(Monte Carlo-Finite Element Method)方法分析计算各种参数条件下颗粒随机填充二元复合材料的等效介电特性,并与MGEM公式计算结果进行比较,验证MGEM公式的正确性和有效性。此外,还将MGEM的预测结果与部分经典理论公式的计算结果、部分文献报道的实验测量数据进行了比较。研究表明,在不同介电常数比(1/50~50)和不同体积分数(0~1)的情况下,MGEM公式预测结果与MC-FEM模型结果完全吻合,与实验测量结果基本一致,为颗粒填充二元复合材料等效介电性能分析提供了一种具有较高计算精度的理论计算方法。     

SGBEM Voronoi Cells (SVCs), with Embedded Arbitrary-Shaped Inclusions,Voids, and/or Cracks,for Micromechanical Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials

In this study, SGBEM Voronoi Cells (SVCs), with each cell representing a grain of the material at the micro-level, are developed for direct micromechanical numerical modeling of heterogeneous composites. Each SVC can consist of either a (each with a different) homogenous isotropic matrix, and can include micro-inhomogeneities such as inclusions, voids of a different material, and cracks. These inclusions and voids in each SVC can be arbitrarily-shaped, such as circular, elliptical, polygonal, etc., for 2D problems. Further, the cracks in each SVC can be fully-embedded, edge, branching, or intersecting types, with arbitrary curved shapes. By rearranging the weakly-singular boundary integral equations, a stiffness matrix and a force vector are developed for each SVC with inclusions, voids, and micro-cracks. The stiffness matrix of each SVC is symmetric, positive semidefinite, and has the correct number of rigid-body modes. The stiffness matrix of each SVC and the force vector can also be interpreted to have the same physical meaning as in traditional displacement finite elements, and related to strain energy and the work done. Therefore, the direct coupling of different SVCs (each with a different isotropic material property, and each with heterogeneities of a different material), or the coupling of SVCs with other traditional or special elements, can be achieved by the usual assembly procedure. Moreover, because the heterogeneous micro-structures are modeled directly in the most natural way, as in the present work, by using an SVC to model each grain, one not only saves the labor of meshing and re-meshing, but also reduces the computational burden by several orders of magnitude as compared to the usual FEM. Through several numerical examples, we demonstrate that the SVCs are useful in not only estimating the overall stiffness properties of heterogeneous composite materials, but they are most useful in capturing the local stress concentrations and singularities in each grain, which act as damage precursors, efficiently. Several examples of interaction of cracks with inclusions and voids within each SVC (or material grain) are also presented. Accurate results are obtained for stress intensity factors. Non-collinear fatigue growth of micro-cracks in heterogeneous materialis also modeled very efficiently, with these SVCs, without a need for the complicated re-meshing as is common when using the traditional displacement-based finite element methods.     

Development of 3D Trefftz Voronoi Cells with Ellipsoidal Voids &/or Elastic/Rigid Inclusions for Micromechanical Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials

In this paper, as an extension to the authors's work in [Dong and Atluri (2011a,b, 2012a,b,c)], three-dimensional Trefftz Voronoi Cells (TVCs) with ellipsoidal voids/inclusions are developed for micromechanical modeling of heterogeneous materials. Several types of TVCs are developed, depending on the types of heterogeneity in each Voronoi Cell(VC). Each TVC can include alternatively an ellipsoidal void, an ellipsoidal elastic inclusion, or an ellipsoidal rigid inclusion. In all of these cases, an inter-VC compatible displacement field is assumed at each surface of the polyhedral VC, with Barycentric coordinates as nodal shape functions. The Trefftz trial displacement fields in each VC are expressed in terms of the Papkovich-Neuber solution. Ellipsoidal harmonics are used as the Papkovich-Neuber potentials to derive the Trefftz trial displacement fields. Characteristic lengths are used for each VC to scale the Trefftz trial functions, in order to avoid solving systems of ill-conditioned equations. Two approaches for developing VC stiffness matrices are used. The differences between these two approaches are that, the compatibility between the independently assumed fields in the interior of the VC with those at the outer- as well as the inner-boundary, are enforced alternatively, by Lagrange multipliers in multi-field boundary variational principles, or by collocation at a finite number of preselected points. These VCs are named as TVC-BVP and TVC-C respectively. Several three-dimensional computational micromechanics problems are solved using these TVCs. Computational results demonstrate that both TVC-BVP and TVC-C can efficiently predict the overall properties of composite/porous materials. They can also accurately capture the stress concentration around ellipsoidal voids/inclusions, which can be used in future to study the damage of materials, in combination of tools of modeling micro-crack initiation and propagation. Therefore, we consider that the 3D TVCs developed in this study are very suitable for ground-breaking micromechanical study of heterogeneous materials.     

Development of 3D T-Trefftz Voronoi Cell Finite Elements with/without Spherical Voids &/or Elastic/Rigid Inclusions for Micromechanical Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials

In this paper, three-dimensionalT-Trefftz Voronoi Cell Finite Elements (VCFEM-TTs) are developed for micromechanical modeling of heterogeneous materials. Several types of VCFEMs are developed, depending on the types of heterogeneity in each element. Each VCFEM can include alternatively a spherical void, a spherical elastic inclusion, a spherical rigid inclusion, or no voids/inclusions at all.In all of these cases, an inter-element compatible displacement field is assumed at each surface of the polyhedral element, with Barycentric coordinates as nodal shape functions.The T-Trefftz trial displacement fields in each element are expressed in terms of the Papkovich-Neuber solution. Spherical harmonics are used as the Papkovich-Neuber potentials to derive the T-Trefftz trial displacement fields. Characteristic lengthsareused for each element to scale the T-Trefftztrial functions, in order to avoid solving systems of ill-conditioned equations. Two approaches for developing element stiffness matrices are used.The differencesbetween these two approachesare that, the compatibilitybetweenthe independentlyassumed fieldsin the interior of the element with those at the outer- as well as the inner-boundary, are enforced alternatively, byLagrange multipliers in multi-fieldboundary variational principles, or by collocation at a finite number of preselected points. These elements are named as VCFEM-TT-BVP and VCFEM-TT-C respectively, following the designations of [Dong and Atluri (2011b, 2012a)].Several three-dimensional computational micromechanics problems are solved using these elements. Computational results demonstrate that both VCFEM-TT-BVP and VCFEM-TT-C can solve three-dimensional problems efficiently and accurately. Especially, these VCFEM-TTs can capture the stress concentration around spherical voids/inclusion quite accurately, and the time for computing each element is much less than that for the hybrid-stress version of VCFEM in [Ghosh and Moorthy (2004)]. Therefore, we consider that the 3D Voronoi Cell Finite Elements developed in this study are suitable for micromechanical modeling of heterogeneous materials. We also point outthat, the process of reducing ellipsoidal coordinates/harmonics to spherical ones in the limiting case cannot work smoothly, which was contrarily presented in an ambiguous way in [Ghosh and Moorthy (2004)]. VCFEMs with ellipsoidal, and arbitrary shaped voids/inclusions will be presented in future studies.