A numerical two-scale approach for nonlinear hyperelastic beams and beam networks

Abstract

We introduce a numerical framework for modeling hyperelastic slender trusses, oftentimes used as elementary building blocks in architected materials, which accounts for both the geometric nonlinearity inherent in thin structures and the nonlinear constitutive behavior of the base material. Akin to the FE2 method in homogenization, our approach is based on a formal, two-scale expansion. We decompose the three-dimensional (3D) description of a slender structure into a macroscale problem solving for the deformation of the beam center-line (based on an effective strain energy density, which depends on the stretching, bending, and torsional strains of the beam’s center-line) and a series of two-dimensional (2D) microscale boundary value problems (defined over the beam cross-section). We solve a series of 2D problems (covering a range of macroscopic strain combinations) for a given cross-sectional geometry and material distribution in an offline, pre-processing step. Using this pre-computed energy landscape, we solve the macroscopic boundary value problem within a geometrically exact, nonlinear discrete beam framework. We demonstrate the accuracy of this approach through a set of benchmark problems highlighting the nonlinear effects of the cross-sectional geometry and constitutive material, including material heterogeneity and pre-strains. We further illustrate how this technique is applied to truss-based architected materials consisting of networks of slender struts, which are typically made of polymeric base materials and thus allow for large nonlinear elastic deformation.