Theoretical and Numerical Contribution for Prediction of the Mechanical Properties of a Randomly Distributed Reinforcement in the Matrix

Abstract

Today, the construction industry is trying to reduce its energy consumption and to move towards more environmentally friendly materials, including renewable materials such as straw earth. In order to promote its use, a consideration of a model to predict its behavior in the constructive system is necessary. Objectives for homogenization of the straw earth composite material, variation in fiber content and random fiber distribution are taken into account. The digital model relies on the generation of the reinforcement’s random positions in the field while controlling its filling rate in the matrix. The model created is implemented in the Ansys Mechanical APDL software for numerical simulation. All the parameters obtained from the straw-earth composite using a numerical method, including the Young module and the Poisson ratio, are explicitly modelled as a theoretical model. The results of this work have been validated by theoretical analysis and have been compared to the experimental results listed in the bibliography.