Search results for "Micro-mechanics"
showing 8 items of 8 documents
A hybrid virtual–boundary element formulation for heterogeneous materials
2021
Abstract In this work, a hybrid formulation based on the conjoined use of the recently developed Virtual Element Method (VEM) and the Boundary Element Method (BEM) is proposed for the effective computational analysis of multi-region domains, representative of heterogeneous materials. VEM has been recently developed as a generalisation of the Finite Element Method (FEM) and it allows the straightforward employment of elements of general polygonal shape, maintaining a high level of accuracy. For its inherent features, it allows the use of meshes of general topology, including non-convex elements. On the other hand, BEM is an effective technique for the numerical solution of sets of boundary i…
Micro damage and cracking in fibre reinforced composites by a novel hybrid numerical technique
2020
Article number 0033974 AIP Incluida en Conference Proceedings 2309 The prediction of failure mechanisms in fibre-reinforced composite materials is of great importance for the design of composite engineering applications. With the aim of providing a tool able to predict and explain the initiation and propagation of damage in unidirectional fiber reinforced composites, in this contribution we develop a micromechanical numerical model based on a novel hybrid approach coupling the virtual element method (VEM) and the boundary element method (BEM). The BEM is a popular numerical technique, efficient and accurate, which has been successfully applied to interfacial fracture mechanics problems of f…
Influence of the anisotropy of sisal fibers on the mechanical properties of high performance unidirectional biocomposite lamina and micromechanical m…
2021
Abstract High performance biocomposites reinforced by sisal fibers, are between the most promising materials that could be used in various fields, from automotive to civil constructions, thanks to their good mechanical performance, as well as to the low cost and the great availability of the fiber. Nevertheless, at present their practical use is prevented by the limited knowledge of their mechanical performance. The results of the present study have shown that the intimate fibrillar structure of the sisal fiber is associated with a high anisotropy involving not only the elastic parameters, but also the damage processes with typical fiber splitting phenomena, that influence noticeably the bi…
Modelling intergranular and transgranular micro-cracking in polycrystalline materials
2018
Abstract In this work, a grain boundary formulation for intergranular and transgranular micro-cracking in three-dimensional polycrystalline aggregates is presented. The formulation is based on the displacement and stress boundary integral equations of solid mechanics and it has the advantage of expressing the polycrystalline problem in terms of grain boundary variables only. The individual grains within the polycrystalline morphology are modelled as generally anisotropic linear elastic domains with random spatial orientation. Transgranular micro-cracking is assumed to occur along specific cleavage planes, whose orientation in space within the grains depend upon the crystallographic lattice.…
Fibre break processes in unidirectional composites
2014
International audience; A model to predict the effects of the accumulation of fibre breakages in unidirectional carbon fibre composites has been developed that takes into account several physical phenomena controlling fibre failure, including the stochastic nature of fibre strength, stress transfer between fibres due to the shear of the matrix, interfacial debonding and viscosity of the matrix. The damage processes leading up to failure are discussed and quantified, first in terms of fibre breaks for the case of monotonically increasing tensile loading, then for sustained loading and finally the implications for more complex loads and structures are discussed. It is clearly shown that the f…
An integral framework for computational thermo-elastic homogenization of polycrystalline materials
2023
A grain scale framework for thermo-elastic analysis and computational homogenization of polycrystalline materials is proposed. The morphology of crystal aggregates is represented employing Voronoi tessellations, which retain the main statistical features of polycrystalline materials. The behaviour of the individual grains is modelled starting from an integral representation for anisotropic thermo-elasticity, which is numerically addressed through a dual reciprocity boundary element method. The integrity of the aggregate is enforced through suitable intergranular thermo-elastic continuity conditions. By virtue of the features of the underlying formulation, the polycrystalline thermo-elastic …
Virtual Element based formulations for computational materials micro-mechanics and homogenization
2021
In this thesis, a computational framework for microstructural modelling of transverse behaviour of heterogeneous materials is presented. The context of this research is part of the broad and active field of Computational Micromechanics, which has emerged as an effective tool both to understand the influence of complex microstructure on the macro-mechanical response of engineering materials and to tailor-design innovative materials for specific applications through a proper modification of their microstructure. While the classical continuum approximation does not account for microstructural details within the material, computational micromechanics allows detailed modelling of a heterogeneous…
Benchmarking of strength models for unidirectional composites under longitudinal tension
2018
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Several modelling approaches are available in the literature to predict longitudinal tensile failure of fibre-reinforced polymers. However, a systematic, blind and unbiased comparison between the predictions from the different models and against experimental data has never been performed. This paper presents a benchmarking exercise performed for three different models from the literature: (i) an analytical hierarchical scaling law for composite fibre bundles, (ii) direct numerical simulations of composite fibre bundles, and (iii) a multiscale finite-element simulation method. The results show that there are significant discrepancies between the predictions of the differe…