J. Aubry¹, P. Navarro¹, S. Marguet¹, J.-F. Ferrero¹, O. Dorival², L. Sohier³, J.-Y. Cognard³

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.39, No.1, pp. 21-47, 2014, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2014.039.021

Abstract In this paper a numerical model dedicated to the simulation of the mechanical behaviour of polymeric Rohacell foams is presented. The finite elements model is developed at the scale of the microstructure idealized by a representative unit cell: the truncated octahedron. Observations made on micrographs of Rohacell lead to mesh this representative unit cell as a lattice of beam elements. Each beam is assigned a brittle linear elastic mechanical behaviour in tension and an elastoplastic behaviour in compression. The plasticity in compression is introduced as a way to mimic the buckling of the edges of the cells observed in experimental… More >

Yongze Cao¹, Guojian Li¹, Qiang Wang^1,2, Xiaoguang Wang³, Jiaojiao Du¹, Jicheng He¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.37, No.3, pp. 195-203, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2013.037.195

Abstract The Fe₆₀Ni₄₀ (in atomic %) polycrystalline thin films with 90 nm thickness were prepared on 200 °C quartz substrate by using molecular beam vapor deposition method. The influence of 0 T and 6 T magnetic fields on the structural evolution and magnetic properties of thin films was studied by using EDXS, XRD, AFM and VSM. In this study, only α phase was formed in both thin films. It was found that the application of a 6 T magnetic field obviously decreases the RMS of surface roughness and the grain size. For the magnetic properties of the thin films, the 6… More >

L.B. Borkowski¹, K.C. Liu¹, A. Chattopadhyay¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.37, No.3, pp. 161-193, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2013.037.161

Abstract The microstructural variation in fiber-reinforced composites has a direct relationship with its local and global mechanical performance. When micromechanical modeling techniques for unidirectional composites assume a uniform and periodic arrangement of fibers, the bounds and validity of this assumption must be quantified. The goal of this research is to quantify the influence of microstructural randomness on effective homogeneous response and local inelastic behavior. The results indicate that microstructural progression from ordered to disordered decreases the tensile modulus by 5%, increases the shear modulus by 10%, and substantially increases the magnitude of local inelastic fields. The experimental and numerical analyses presented… More >

Shiv Narayan¹, R M Jha¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.37, No.2, pp. 97-108, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2013.037.097

Abstract A novel metamaterial based FSS (frequency selective surfaces) structure is presented in this paper for wideband airborne radome applications. The proposed metamaterial-FSS structure consists of three layers, where a DPS (double positive sign) layer is sandwiched between a MNG (μ-negative) and ENG (ε- negative) layer, exhibits very good bandpass characteristics inside the operational band along with excellent roll-off characteristics outside the band. The EM performance analysis of the proposed structure has been carried out using transmission line transfer matrix (TLTM) method, which shows excellent bandpass characteristics over a wide frequency range. The transmission efficiency is over 95% both at normal… More >

J. Joseph¹, Y. C. Lu¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.37, No.1, pp. 59-75, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2013.037.059

Abstract The aligned carbon nanotube (A-CNT) structure is composed of arrays of individual CNTs grown vertically on a flat substrate. The overall structure and properties of an A-CNTs are highly dependent upon the designs of various architectures and geometric parameters. In Part 2, we have presented the detailed designs and modeling of various aligned carbon nanotube structures. It is found the A-CNT structures generally have much lower modulus than an individual CNT. The reason is due to the high porosity and low density of the A-CNT structures, since the interstitial space between nanotubes is mostly occupied by air. Increasing the nanotube… More >

J. Joseph¹, Y. C. Lu¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.37, No.1, pp. 39-57, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2013.037.039

Abstract Aligned carbon nanotubes structures are emerging new materials that have demonstrated superior mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties and have the huge potential for a wide range of applications. In contrast with traditional materials whose microstructures are relatively "fixed", the aligned carbon nanotube materials have highly "tunable" structures. Therefore, it is crucial to have a rational strategy to design and evaluate the architectures and geometric factors to help process the optimal nanotube materials. Astructural mechanics based computational modeling is used for designing the aligned carbon nanotubes structures. Part 1 of the papers presents the theory of the computational method as well… More >

Leiting Dong^1,2, Salah H. Gamal³, Satya N. Atluri^2,4

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.37, No.1, pp. 1-21, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2013.037.001

Abstract In this paper, a simple and reliable procedure of stochastic computation is combined with the highly accurate and efficient Trefftz Computational Grains (TCG), for a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of heterogeneous materials with microscopic randomness. Material properties of each material phase, and geometrical properties such as particles sizes and distribution, are considered to be stochastic with either a uniform or normal probabilistic distributions. The objective here is to determine how this microscopic randomness propagates to the macroscopic scale, and affects the stochastic characteristics of macroscopic material properties. Four steps are included in this procedure: (1) using the Latin hypercube sampling,… More >

E. Ferretti¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.36, No.3, pp. 293-322, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2013.036.293

Abstract The Cell Method is applied in order to model the debonding mechanism in ceramic floor tiles subjected to positive thermal variation. The causes of thermal debonding, very usual in radiant heat floors, have not been fully clarified at the moment. There exist only a few simplified analytical approaches that assimilate this problem to an eccentric tile compression, but these approaches introduce axial forces that, in reality, do not exist. In our work we have abandoned the simplified closed form solution in favor of a numerical solution, which models the interaction between tiles and sub-base more realistically, when the positive thermal… More >

R. R. Valisetty¹, A.M. Dongare², A.M. Rajendran³, R. R. Namburu¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.36, No.3, pp. 231-255, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2013.036.231

Abstract Materials used in soldier protective structures, such as armor, vehicles and civil infrastructures, are being improved for performance in extreme dynamic environments. Nanocrystalline metals show significant promise in the design of these structures with superior strengths attributed to the dislocation-based and grain-boundary-based processes as compared to their polycrystalline counterparts. An optimization of these materials, however, requires a fundamental understanding of damage evolution at the atomic level. Accordingly, atomistic molecular dynamics simulations are performed using an embedded-atom method (EAM) potential on three nano-crystalline aluminum atom systems, one a Voronoi-based nano-crystalline system with an average grain size of 10 nm, and the… More >

C.J. Huang¹, T.Y. Hung¹, K.N. Chiang²

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.36, No.2, pp. 99-133, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2013.036.099

Abstract The development in the field of nanotechnology has prompted numerous researchers to develop various simulation methods for determining the material properties of nanoscale structures. However, these methods are restricted by the speed limitation of the central processing unit (CPU), which cannot estimate larger-scale nanoscale models within an acceptable time. Thus, decreasing the CPU processing time and retaining the estimation accuracy of physical properties of nanoscale structures have become critical issues. Accordingly, this study aims to decrease the CPU processing time and complexity of large nanoscale models by utilizing, atomistic-continuum mechanics (ACM) to build an equivalent model of carbon nanotubes (CNTs).… More >