Abstract
In this paper the mechanical properties of silica aerogels are studied by simulations with the usage of the Movable Cellular Automata (MCA) method. In the MCA approach a sample is considered as a set of interacting cellular automata. The procedure to prepare porous samples is based on random spheres method. The resulting structures have densities in the range from 111 to 2200 kg/m3 and porosity up to 95%. The structures of the samples are studied by obtaining the fractal dimension using the FD3 program. The Young's modulus is examined in the simulation of a compression test. The elastic modulus relate to density by a power law characterized by exponent 3.83 ± 0.18 for samples with densities from 111 to 568 kg/m3 and 3.17 ± 0.11 for samples with densities from 350 to 2200 kg/m3. A comparison to previously published data from experiments and comparable computer simulations is included. The results prove that the Movable Cellular Automata method is suitable to investigate the mechanical properties of silica aerogels.
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