G. Haasemann¹, M. Kästner¹ and V. Ulbricht¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.3, No.3, pp. 131-146, 2006, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2006.003.131

Abstract Novel textile reinforced composites provide an extremely high adaptability and allow for the development of materials whose features can be adjusted precisely to certain applications. A successful structural and material design process requires an integrated simulation of the material behavior, the estimation of the effective properties which need to be assigned to the macroscopic model and the resulting features of the component. In this context two efficient modelling strategies - the Binary Model (Carter, Cox, and Fleck (1994)) and the Extended Finite Element Method (X-FEM) (Moës, Cloirec, Cartraud, and Remacle (2003)) - are used to… More >

D.S. Liu^1,2 , C.Y. Chen² , D.Y. Chiou³

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.9, No.2, pp. 179-192, 2005, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2005.009.179

Abstract A three-dimensional heterogeneous infinite element method (HIEM) for modeling inclusions with interphases in composite materials is presented. This special element is formulated based on the conventional finite element method (FEM) using the similarity stiffness property and matrix condensation operations. An HIE-FE coupling scheme is also developed and implemented using the commercial software ABAQUS to conduct the elastostatic analysis. The proposed approach was validated first to study heterogeneous material containing one spherical inclusion. The displacement and stress variations around the inclusion vicinity are verified against conventional FEM. The proposed approach was next applied to analyze the effective More >

C. Tapp¹, W. Hansel, C. Mittelstedt, W. Becker²

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.5, No.6, pp. 563-574, 2004, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2004.005.563

Abstract A heuristic algorithm for the weight minimization of sandwich plates is presented. The method is based on a preexisting algorithm for the layerwise topology optimization of symmetric laminates under in-plane loads. The presented algorithm uses structural analyses based on finite elements and explicitly accounts for the special sandwich situation. During the optimization procedure the algorithm adds or subtracts material from the layers of the face sheets and the core of the sandwich plate in regions of high or low stresses respectively. The orientation angles of the layers of the sandwich facings are not varied inorder More >

P. Raghavan¹, S. Ghosh²

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.5, No.2, pp. 151-170, 2004, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2004.005.151

Abstract This paper presents an adaptive multi-level computational model that combines a conventional displacement based finite element model with a microstructural Voronoi cell finite element model for multi-scale analysis of composite structures with non-uniform microstructural heterogeneities as obtained from optical or scanning electron micrographs. Three levels of hierarchy, with different resolutions, are introduced in this model to overcome shortcomings posed by modeling and discretization errors. Among the three levels are: (a) level-0 of pure macroscopic analysis; (b) level-1 of macro-micro coupled modeling, used for signaling the switch over from macroscopic analyses to pure microscopic analyses; and More >

Hiroshi Okada¹, Yasuyoshi Fukui¹, Noriyoshi Kumazawa¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.5, No.2, pp. 135-150, 2004, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2004.005.135

Abstract A method to obtain the effective mechanical properties of particulate composite materials is presented in this paper. The methodology is based on the boundary element method (BEM) coupled with analytical solutions for ellipsoidal inclusions such as Eshelby's tensor. There is no numerical integration for the surfaces or the domains of distributed particles, and, therefore, proposed technique is very efficient. Homogenization analysis based on representative volume element (RVE) is carried out considering a unit cell containing many particles (up to 1000). By using a conventional BEM approach (i.e., multi-region BEM), it would be extremely difficult to More >

Kunigal Shivakumar¹, Anil Bhargava²

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.1, No.2, pp. 173-190, 2004, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2004.001.173

Abstract The fiber optic sensor (FOS) embedded perpendicular to reinforcing fibers causes an `Eye' shaped defect. The length is about 16 times fiber optic radius (R_Fos) and height is about 2R_Fos. The eye contains fiber optics in the center surrounded by an elongated resin pocket. Embedding FOS causes geometric distortion of the reinforcing fiber over a height equal to 6 to 8 R_Fos. This defect causes severe stress concentration at the root of the resin pocket, the interface (in the composite) between the optical fiber and the composite, and at 90° to load direction in the composite. The… More >

H. Okada¹, C. T. Liu², T. Ninomiya¹, Y. Fukui¹, N. Kumazawa¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.6, No.4, pp. 333-348, 2004, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2004.006.333

Abstract Formulations and applications of an element overlay technique for the mesoscopic analyses of composite structures are presented in this paper. As a zooming technique, the element overlay technique has been applied to various engineering problems. A finite element mesh having finer mesh discretization is superposed at the region to zoom the spatial resolution of analysis. Such a numerical technique is known as the s-version FEM (S-FEM). This paper aims at developing an S-FEM technique that is suited for the mesoscopic analysis of particulate composite materials. Local finite element models that contain the second phase material… More >

J.T. Verbis¹, S.V. Tsinopoulos², D. Polyzos²

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.3, No.6, pp. 803-814, 2002, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2002.003.803

Abstract In the present work the iterative effective medium approximation (IEMA) is appropriately used for wave dispersion and attenuation predictions in fiber-reinforced composites that microscopically exhibit a non-uniform fiber distribution. Two types of composites with such irregular topology of fibers are considered. The first contains a regular distribution of clusters of fibers embedded in a composite matrix with uniformly distributed fibers, and the second a uniform distribution of matrix-rich inclusions embedded in a fiber-rich regular composite medium. The resulting from the application of the IEMA scattering problems are solved numerically by means of a two dimensional More >