• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2013

In this paper, a micro-mechanical failure prediction program is developed based on SIFT (Strain Invariant Failure Theory) by using the multi-scale modeling method for fiber-reinforced composite materials. And the failure analysis are performed for open-hole composite laminate specimen in order to verify the developed program. First of all, the critical strain invariants are obtained through the tensile tests for three types of specimens. Also, the matrices of strain amplification factors are determined through the finite element analysis for micro-mechanical model, RVE (Representative Volume Element). Finally, the microscopic failure analysis is performed for the open-hole composite laminate specimen model by applying a failure load obtained from tensile test, and the predicted failure indices are evaluated for verification of the developed program.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.735-758
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• 2015

This work deals with unilateral effect of quasi-brittle materials, such as concrete. For this propose, a two-dimensional meso-scale model is presented. The material is considered as a three-phase material consisting of interface zone, matrix and inclusions - each constituent modeled by an appropriate constitutive model. The Representative Volume Element (RVE) consists of inclusions idealized as circular shapes randomly placed into the specimen. The interface zone is modeled by means of cohesive contact finite elements developed here in order to capture the effects of phase debonding and interface crack closure/opening. As an initial approximation, the inclusion is modeled as linear elastic as well as the matrix. Our main goal here is to show a computational homogenization-based approach as an alternative to complex macroscopic constitutive models for the mechanical behavior of the quasi-brittle materials using a finite element procedure within a purely kinematical multi-scale framework. A set of numerical examples, involving the microcracking processes, is provided. It illustrates the performance of the proposed model. In summary, the proposed homogenization-based model is found to be a suitable tool for the identification of macroscopic mechanical behavior of quasi-brittle materials dealing with unilateral effect.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.9
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• pp.663-670
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• 2020

A study on mechanical property characterization and modeling technique was carried out to approximate the behaviour of structures with 2.5D C/SiC material. Several tensile tests were performed to analyze the behaviour characteristics of the 2.5D C/SiC material and elastic property was characterized by applying a mathematical homogenization and a modified rule of mixture. SiC matrix representing the elasto-plastic behavior approximates as a bilinear function. Then the equivalent yield strength and equivalent plastic stiffness were calculated by minimizing errors in experiment and approximation. RVE(Representative Volume Element)was defined from the fiber and matrix configuration of 2.5D C/SiC and a process of calculating the effective stiffness matrix by applying the modified rule of mixture to RVE was implemented in the ABAQUS User-defined subroutine. Finite element analysis was performed by applying the mechanical properties of fiber and matrix calculated based on the proposed process, and the results were in good agreement with the experimental results.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.18 no.2 s.92
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• pp.189-198
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• 2006

The composition of most engineering materials is heterogeneous at some degree. It is simply a question of scale at which the level of heterogeneity becomes apparent. In the case of cementitious granular materials such as concrete the heterogeneity appears at the mesoscale where it is comprised of aggregate particles, a hardened cement paste and voids. Since it is difficult to consider each separate particle in the topological description explicitly, numerical models of the meso-structure are normally confined to two-phase matrix particle composites in which only the larger inclusions are accounted for. 2-D and 3-D concrete blocks(Representative Volume Element, RVE) are used to simulating heterogeneous concrete meso-structures in the form of aggregates in the hardened mortar with nearly zero-thickness linear or planar interfaces. The numerical sensitivity of these meso-structures are Investigated with respect to the different morphologies of heterogeneity and the different level of coupling constant among fracture mode I, II and III. In addition, a numerically homogenized concrete block in 3-D using Hashin-Shtrikman variational bounds provides an evidence of the effective cracking paths which are quite different with those of heterogenous concrete block. However, their average force-displacement relationship show a pretty close match each other.

• Composites Research
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.334-339
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• 2022

This study suggests the prediction algorithm for transverse permeability, represented the flow resistance during the manufacturing process of composite, of unidirectional continuous fiber reinforced plastics. The cross-sectional shape of representative volume element (RVE) is considered to reflect fiber arrangement. The equivalent length is used as a factor to express the change of resin flow according to fiber arrangement. The permeability prediction algorithm is created by grafting the Electro-Hydraulic analogy and validity is confirmed. The code for permeability prediction was composed by means of MATLAB and Python, flow analysis was performed by using FLUENT. The algorithm was verified as the permeability results obtained through Algorithm and numerical analysis were almost identical to each other, and the calculation time was reduced around 1/450 compared to the numerical analysis.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.239-245
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• 2014

Finite element modeling of composite structures may be cumbersome due to complex distributions of reinforcements. In this paper, an efficient scheme is proposed that can generate periodic meshes for the composite structures. Regular meshes with hexahedral finite elements are first prepared, and the elements are then trimmed to fit external surfaces of reinforcements in the composite structures. The trimmed hexahedral finite elements located at interfaces between the matrix and the reinforcements correspond to polyhedral finite elements, which allow an arbitrary number of nodes and faces in the elements. Because the trimming process is consistently conducted by means of consistent algorithms, the elements of the reinforcements are automatically compatible with those of the matrices. With the additional consideration of periodicity of reinforcements in a representative volume element(RVE), the proposed scheme provides periodic meshes in an efficient manner, which are compatible for each pair of periodic boundaries of the RVE. Therefore, periodic boundary conditions for the RVE are enforced straightforwardly. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme for finite element modeling of complex composite structures.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.931-947
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• 2016

The effects of nanotechnology and smartness on the buckling reduction of pipes are the main contributions of present work. For this ends, the pipe is simulated with classical piezoelectric polymeric cylindrical shell reinforced by armchair double walled boron nitride nanotubes (DWBNNTs), The structure is subjected to combined electro-thermo-mechanical loads. The surrounding elastic foundation is modeled with a novel model namely as orthotropic nonhomogeneous Pasternak medium. Using representative volume element (RVE) based on micromechanical modeling, mechanical, electrical and thermal characteristics of the equivalent composite are determined. Employing nonlinear strains-displacements and stress-strain relations as well as the charge equation for coupling of electrical and mechanical fields, the governing equations are derived based on Hamilton's principal. Based on differential quadrature method (DQM), the buckling load of pipe is calculated. The influences of electrical and thermal loads, geometrical parameters of shell, elastic foundation, orientation angle and volume percent of DWBNNTs in polymer are investigated on the buckling of pipe. Results showed that the generated ${\Phi}$ improved sensor and actuator applications in several process industries, because it increases the stability of structure. Furthermore, using nanotechnology in reinforcing the pipe, the buckling load of structure increases.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.419-429
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• 2020

To investigate the effect of spatial variability on hydraulic properties of unsaturated soils, a numerical model is set up which can simulate seepage process in an unsaturated heterogeneous soil. The unsaturated heterogeneous soil is composed of matrix sand embedded with a small proportion of clay for simulating the heterogeneity. Soil-water characteristic curve and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curve of the unsaturated soil are expressed by Van Genuchten model. Hydraulic parameters of the matrix sand are considered as random fields. Different autocorrelation lengths (ACLs) of hydraulic parameter of the matrix sand and different proportions of clay are assumed to investigate the influence of spatial variability on the equivalent hydraulic properties of the heterogeneous soil. Four model sizes are used in the numerical experiments to investigate the influence of scale effects and to determine the sizes of representative volume element (RVE) in the numerical simulations. Through a number of Monte Carlo simulations of unsaturated seepage analysis, the means and the coefficients of variations (COVs) of the equivalent hydraulic parameters of the heterogeneous soil are calculated. Simulations show that the ACL and model size has little influence on the means of the equivalent hydraulic parameters, but they have a large influence on the COVs of the equivalent hydraulic parameters. The size of an RVE is mainly affected by the ACL and the proportion of heterogeneity. The influence of spatial variability on the hydraulic parameters of the heterogeneous unsaturated soil can be used as a guidance for geotechnical reliability analysis and design related to unsaturated soils.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.301-312
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• 2006

Experimental research revealed that the spatial dispersion of aggregate grains exerts pronounced influences on the mechanical and durability properties of concrete. Therefore, insight into this phenomenon is of paramount importance. Experimental approaches do not provide direct access to three-dimensional spacing information in concrete, however. Contrarily, simulation approaches are mostly deficient in generating packing systems of aggregate grains with sufficient density. This paper therefore employs a dynamic simulation system (with the acronym SPACE), allowing the generation of dense random packing of grains, representative for concrete aggregates. This paper studies by means of SPACE packing structures of aggregates with a Fuller type of size distribution, generally accepted as a suitable approximation for actual aggregate systems. Mean free spacing $\bar{\lambda}$, mean nearest neighbour distance (NND) between grain centres $\bar{\Delta}_3$, and the probability density function of ${\Delta}_3$ are used to characterize the spatial dispersion of aggregate grains in model concretes. Influences on these spacing parameters are studied of volume fraction and the size range of aggregate grains. The values of these descriptors are estimated by means of stereological tools, whereupon the calculation results are compared with measurements. The simulation results indicate that the size range of aggregate grains has a more pronounced influence on the spacing parameters than exerted by the volume fraction of aggregate. At relatively high volume density of aggregates, as met in the present cases, theoretical and experimental values are found quite similar. The mean free spacing is known to be independent of the actual dispersion characteristics (Underwood 1968); it is a structural parameter governed by material composition. Moreover, scatter of the mean free spacing among the serial sections of the model concrete in the simulation study is relatively small, demonstrating the sample size to be representative for composition homogeneity of aggregate grains. The distribution of ${\Delta}_3$ observed in this study is markedly skew, indicating a concentration of relatively small values of ${\Delta}_3$. The estimate of the size of the representative volume element (RVE) for configuration homogeneity based on NND exceeds by one order of magnitude the estimate for structure-insensitive properties. This is in accordance with predictions of Brown (1965) for composition and configuration homogeneity (corresponding to structure-insensitive and structure-sensitive properties) of conglomerates.