Abstract
In this work, particle composite materials with different kind of microstructures are analyzed. Such materials are described as made of rigid particles and elastic interfaces. Rigid particles of arbitrary hexagonal shape are considered and their geometry is described by a limited set of parameters. Three different textures are analyzed and static analyses are performed for a comparison among the solutions of discrete, micropolar (Cosserat) and classical models. In particular, the displacements of the discrete model are compared to the displacement fields of equivalent micropolar and classical continua realized through a homogenization technique, starting from the representative elementary volume detected with a numeric approach. The performed analyses show the effectiveness of adopting the micropolar continuum theory for describing such materials.
Highlights
Composite materials can be investigated by directly describing their constituents in a micromechanical discrete model or by homogenizing them as equivalent continua
The present work investigates the static behavior of composite materials with three types of hexagonal microstructures as equivalent micropolar media
The comparison among the discrete model and the continuum models highlighted that assemblies of regular hexagons have an orthotetragonal behavior, there is only a weak dependence on the scale, as in the case of materials with elements of small size, and it has been shown that their homogenized behavior is close to the behavior of classical elastic bodies
Summary
Composite materials can be investigated by directly describing their constituents in a micromechanical discrete model or by homogenizing them as equivalent continua In the former case, for example to study heterogeneous materials such as polycrystalline materials, jointed rock systems, and block masonry with periodic microstructures, the model involves a system with a large numbers degrees of freedom and as a consequence the computational costs is very high [1,2,3,4]; such cost increases by reducing the material scale [5]. Later the numerical implementation of the continuum model is shown (Sect. 4), the discrete model assumed as benchmark solution is properly described and a static analyses comparison among the discrete system, the micropolar and the classical continuum for a 2D panel is reported (Sect. 6)
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