A morphological elastic model of general hexagonal columnar structures

A general three-dimensional (3D) anisotropic hexagonal model of columnar structure with non-uniform strut morphology is developed. This model covers several types of cellular structure such as two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal and square honeycombs, and 3D hexagonal and rhombic cellular materials of rod-like columnar structure. The effective elastic constants are determined taking account of bending, axial, and shear deformations of the struts. Unlike the theoretical work of other investigators for 2D honeycombs, considering bending, axial and shearing deformations of struts, the present model not only produces transverse isotropy for regular hexagonal columnar structure but also provides a consistent Poisson's ratio when applied to a square honeycomb. The effect of tapered strut morphology on the elastic properties of cellular structures is investigated. For the general hexagonal columnar structures, the bending compliance is the dominant function for the in-plane elastic constants of 2D and 3D structures (excluding the in-plane shear modulus of rhombic structures) and the out-of-plane shear moduli of 3D structures, but the axial compliance is dominant for the in-plane shear modulus of 2D and 3D rhombic structures and the out-of-plane Young's modulus of 3D structures. For cellular materials with the same relative density, the presence of taper increases values of the effective Young's and shear moduli for which the bending compliance is dominant, but decreases those for which the axial compliance is dominant. It is found that the effective elastic properties of cellular materials are dependent not only on the relative density but also on strut morphology both in cross-section geometry and its variation along the strut length which the present model takes account of. These results illustrate the importance of the strut morphology in calculating the effective elastic properties of cellular materials.