• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.175-183
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• 2016

A poroelastic composite material, containing different material phases and filled with fluids, serves as a model to formulate the overall ablative behaviors of such materials. This article deals with the assessment of variation in nondeterministic poroelastic properties of two-phase composite materials using micromechanical representative volume element (RVE) models. Considering the configuration and arrangement of pores in a matrix phase, various RVEs are modeled and analyzed according to their porosity. In order to quantitatively investigate the effects of microstructure, changes in effective elastic moduli and poroelastic parameters are measured via finite element (FE) analysis. The poroelastic parameters are calculated from the effective elastic moduli and the pore-pressure-induced strains. The reliability of the numerical results is verified through image-based FE models with the actual shape of pores in carbon-phenolic ablative materials. Additionally, the variation of strain energy density is measured, which can possibly be used to evaluate microstress concentrations.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2017

Despite the exceptional mechanical properties of individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs), the effective properties of CNT-reinforced composites remain below expectations. The composite's microstructure has been identified as a key factor in explaining this discrepancy. In this contribution, a method for generating representative volume elements of aligned CNT sheets is presented. The model captures material characteristics such as random waviness and entanglement of individual nanotubes. Thus it allows studying microstructural effects on the composite's effective properties. Simulations investigating the strengthening effect of the application of a pre-stretch on the CNTs are carried out and found to be in very good agreement with experimental values. They highlight the importance of the nanotube's waviness and entanglement for the mechanical behavior of the composite. The presented representative volume elements are the first to accurately capture the waviness and entanglement of CNT sheets for realistically high volume fractions.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1995.04a
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• pp.345-349
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• 1995

Although heterogeneous materials consisted of micro-constituents are complicated, it is possible to evaulate effective elastic moduli by using micro-mechanics models. In order to evaluate effective elastic moduli of concrete, all aggregates in a representative volume element(RVE) are assumed spherical and randomly distributed. A dilute distribution of inclusions is considered first, and the corresponding overall elastic moduli of the RVE are estimated. Then, the self-consistent method is used in order to take into account the interaction effects. The elastic moduli of concrete are calculated using the models and compared with those of experiment for different volume fractions of the aggregates and elastic moduli of the mortar and the aggregates.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.194-198
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• 2015

Microstructure based FE simulations were conducted to investigate the micro-mechanical properties of ferrite-martensite dual-phase steels. The FE model was built based on real microstructure images which were characterized by optical microscopy through the thickness direction. Serial sectioned 2D images were converted into semi-2D representative volume elements (RVEs) model. Each RVE model was subjected to a non-proportional loading condition and the mechanical response was analyzed on both the macroscopic and microscopic levels. Macroscopically, stress-strain curves were described under tension-compression and tension-orthogonal tension conditions and the Bauschinger effect was well captured for both loading paths. In addition, micromechanical properties were investigated in the view of stress-strain partitioning and strain localization during monotonic tension.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.279-301
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• 2008

This paper develops a 3D homogenization based continuum damage mechanics (HCDM) model for fiber reinforced composites undergoing micromechanical damage under monotonic and cyclic loading. Micromechanical damage in a representative volume element (RVE) of the material occurs by fiber-matrix interfacial debonding, which is incorporated in the model through a hysteretic bilinear cohesive zone model. The proposed model expresses a damage evolution surface in the strain space in the principal damage coordinate system or PDCS. PDCS enables the model to account for the effect of non-proportional load history. The loading/unloading criterion during cyclic loading is based on the scalar product of the strain increment and the normal to the damage surface in strain space. The material constitutive law involves a fourth order orthotropic tensor with stiffness characterized as a macroscopic internal variable. Three dimensional damage in composites is accounted for through functional forms of the fourth order damage tensor in terms of components of macroscopic strain and elastic stiffness tensors. The HCDM model parameters are calibrated from homogenization of micromechanical solutions of the RVE for a few representative strain histories. The proposed model is validated by comparing results of the HCDM model with pure micromechanical analysis results followed by homogenization. Finally, the potential of HCDM model as a design tool is demonstrated through macro-micro analysis of monotonic and cyclic damage progression in composite structures.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.159-165
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• 2021

This study introduces a topology optimization method for the simultaneous design of macro-scale structural configuration and unit structure variation to ensure effective heat conduction. Shape changes in the unit structure depending on its location within the macro-scale structure result in micro- as well as macro-scale design and enable better performance than using isotropic unit structures. They result in functionally graded composite structures combining both configurations. The representative volume element (RVE) method is applied to obtain various thermal conductivity properties of the multi-material based unit structure according to its shape change. Based on the RVE analysis results, the material properties of the unit structure having a certain shape can be derived using machine learning. Macro-scale topology optimization is performed using the traditional solid isotropic material with penalization method, while the unit structures composing the macro-structure can have various shapes to improve the heat conduction performance according to the simultaneous optimization process. Numerical examples of the thermal compliance minimization issue are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.30-37
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• 2020

Stress distributions dependent on fiber arrangements are studied using the two-dimensional representative volume element (RVE) model for uni-directionally continuous fiber-reinforced composites subjected to transverse tensile loading. It is easily expected that the stresses around the fibers are concentrated mainly due to the stiffness mismatch between the fiber and matrix materials. In this presentation, it is shown that the stresses are not always increased although the distance between two fibers is shortened. The 2D RVE models, originally having a regular hexagonal fiber array, is utilized to study the effect of the fiber locations on the stress distributions. As the central fiber is relocated, the stress distributions around the fiber are obtained through finite element analysis. It is found that the stresses around the fiber are strongly dependent on the fiber distance as well as the angle between the loading direction and the line connecting two fibers.

• Composites Research
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.251-259
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• 2018

In this paper, statistical volume element modeling method was developed for multi-scale progressive failure analysis of fiber reinforced composite materials. Big-size statistical volume elements (BSVEs) was considered to minimize the size effect in the micro-scale, by including as many fibers as possible. For that purpose, a mesh cutting method is suggested and adapted into the fiber model generator that creates finite element domain rapidly. The fiber defect model was also developed based on the experimental distribution of the fiber strength. The size effects from the local load sharing (LLS) are evaluated by increasing the fiber inclusion in the micro-scale model. Finally, continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model to the fiber direction was extracted from numerical analysis on BSVEs. And it was compared with strength prediction from typical representative volume element (RVE) model.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.177-180
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• 2002

3-D 원형 브레이드 복합재료의 물리적인 물성을 계산하기 위해서는 실제와 같은 단위구조의 모델링과 이를 통한 RVE(Representative Volume Element)의 구현이 필수적이다. 실제적인 내부구조 모델링을 위해 단위구조를 2가지로 나누었으며, 실의 경로를 3차원 스플라인으로 적합시켰다. 구현한 내부구조를 통하여 공정변수와 구조변수와의 관계를 고찰하였다.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.579-594
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• 2013

A new enthalpy - based procedure for the homogenization of the electromechanical material parameters of composite piezoelectric modules with integrated electrodes is presented. It is based on a finite element (FE) modeling of the latter's representative volume element (RVE). In contrast to most previously published homogenization approaches that are based on averaged quantities, the presented method uses a direct evaluation of the electromechanical enthalpy. Hence, for the linear orthotropic piezoelectric composite behavior full set of elastic, piezoelectric, and dielectric material parameters, 17 load cases (LC) are used where each load case leads directly to one material parameter. This gives the possibility to elaborate a very strict and easy to program processing. In conjunction with the 17 LC, the enthalpy - based homogenization is particularly suitable for laminated composite piezoelectric modules with integrated electrodes. In this case, the electric load has to be given at the electrodes rather than at the RVE FE model boundaries. The proposed procedure is validated through its comparison to literature available results on a classical 1-3 piezoelectric micro fiber (longitudinally polarized) reinforced composite and a $d_{15}$ shear piezoelectric macro-fiber (transversely polarized) composite module.