Modeling the size‐effect of metamaterial beams under bending via the relaxed micromorphic continuum

Abstract

AbstractMechanical metamaterials are media with periodic unit cells comprised of tailored geometry in order to accomplish extraordinary bulk mechanical properties which can not be found in conventional materials. However, metamaterials exhibit size‐effect phenomena which can be captured by enriched continua. In this work, the relaxed micromorphic model will be used to reproduce the mechanical response of an assumed metamaterial. The solution of the fully discretized metamaterial is used as a reference that the homogeneous relaxed micromorphic model should meet. We discuss the parameters identification and boundary conditions. Our analysis indicates that the relaxed micromorphic model faithfully reproduces the size‐effect.