• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.112-120
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• 1998

A nondestructive evaluation technique was developed for the quantitative determination of the reinforcement volume fractions in particulate reinforced metal matrix composites. The proposed technique employed a composite micromechanics which accounts for the microstructure of the composite medium together with the measurement of anisotropic electrical conductivity. When the measured conductivity was coupled with the theoretically predicted conductivity, the unknown reinforcement volume fraction was calculated. An analytical model based on the Mori-Tanaka method was described which relates the NDE signatures to the composite microstructure. The volume fractions were calculated using eddy current measurements made on a wide range of silicon carbide particulate ($SiC_p$) reinforced aluminum (Al) matrix composites. The calculated $SiC_p$ volume fractions were in good agreement with the measured volume fractions in the range of 0-30%. The technique was also found to be effective in estimating the total volume percentage of reinforcement and intermetallic compound formed during the processing stage.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.3
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• pp.299-312
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• 2018

In this paper, an extended finite element method is proposed to analyze both geometric and material non-linear behavior of general Functionally Graded Material (FGM) plate-shell type structures. A user defined subroutine (UMAT) is developed and implemented in Abaqus/Standard to study the elastoplastic behavior of the ceramic particle-reinforced metal-matrix FGM plates-shells. The standard quadrilateral 4-nodes shell element with three rotational and three translational degrees of freedom per node, S4, is extended in the present study, to deal with elasto-plastic analysis of geometrically non-linear FGM plate-shell structures. The elastoplastic material properties are assumed to vary smoothly through the thickness of the plate-shell type structures. The nonlinear approach is based on Mori-Tanaka model to underline micromechanics and locally determine the effective FGM properties and self-consistent method of Suquet for the homogenization of the stress-field. The elasto-plastic behavior of the ceramic/metal FGM is assumed to follow Ludwik hardening law. An incremental formulation of the elasto-plastic constitutive relation is developed to predict the tangent operator. In order to to highlight the effectiveness and the accuracy of the present finite element procedure, numerical examples of geometrically non-linear elastoplastic functionally graded plates and shells are presented. The effects of the geometrical parameters and the volume fraction index on nonlinear responses are performed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.6
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• pp.713-722
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• 2019

Micromechanics is a technique for the analysis of composites or heterogeneous materials which focuses on the components of the intended structure. Each one of the components can exhibit isotropic behavior, but the microstructure characteristics of the heterogeneous material result in the anisotropic behavior of the structure. In this research, the general mechanical properties of a 3D anisotropic and heterogeneous Representative Volume Element (RVE), have been determined by applying periodic boundary conditions (PBCs), using the Asymptotic Homogenization Theory (AHT) and strain energy. In order to use the homogenization theory and apply the periodic boundary conditions, the ABAQUS scripting interface (ASI) has been used along with the Python programming language. The results have been compared with those of the Homogeneous Boundary Conditions method, which leads to an overestimation of the effective mechanical properties. According to the results, applying homogenous boundary conditions results in a 33% and 13% increase in the shear moduli G₂₃ and G₁₂, respectively. In polymeric composites, the fibers have linear and brittle behavior, while the resin exhibits a non-linear behavior. Therefore, the nonlinear effects of resin on the mechanical properties of the composite material is studied using a user-defined subroutine in Fortran (USDFLD). The non-linear shear stress-strain behavior of unidirectional composite laminates has been obtained. Results indicate that at arbitrary constant stress as 80 MPa in-plane shear modulus, G₁₂, experienced a 47%, 41% and 31% reduction at the fiber volume fraction of 30%, 50% and 70%, compared to the linear assumption. The results of this study are in good agreement with the analytical and experimental results available in the literature.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.47-62
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• 2020

In this study, free vibration behavior of trapezoidal sandwich plates with porous core and two graphene platelets (GPLs) reinforced nanocomposite outer layers are presented. The distribution of pores and GPLs are supposed to be functionally graded (FG) along the thickness of core and nanocomposite layers, respectively. The effective Young's modulus of the GPL-reinforced (GPLR) nanocomposite layers is determined using the modified Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model, while the Poisson's ratio and density are computed by the rule of mixtures. The FSDT plate theory is utilized to establish governing partial differential equations and boundary conditions (B.C.s) for trapezoidal plate. The governing equations together with related B.C.s are discretized using a mapping- generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method in the spatial domain. Then natural frequencies of the trapezoidal sandwich plates are obtained by GDQ method. Validity of current study is evaluated by comparing its numerical results with those available in the literature. A special attention is drawn to the role of GPLs weight fraction, GPLs patterns of two faces through the thickness, porosity coefficient and distribution of porosity on natural frequencies characteristics. New results show the importance of this permeates on vibrational characteristics of porous/GPLR nanocomposite plates. Finally, the influences of B.C.s and dimension as well as the plate geometry such as face to core thickness ratio on the vibration behaviors of the trapezoidal plates are discussed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.711-731
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• 2020

This paper deals with free vibration of FG sandwich annular sector plates on Pasternak elastic foundation with different boundary conditions, based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity. The plates with simply supported radial edges and arbitrary boundary conditions on their circular edges are considered. The influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) waviness, aspect ratio, internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) on the vibrational behavior of functionally graded nanocomposite sandwich plates is investigated in this research work. The distributions of CNTs are considered functionally graded (FG) or uniform along the thickness of upper and bottom layers of the sandwich sectorial plates and their mechanical properties are estimated by an extended rule of mixture. In this study, the classical theory concerning the mechanical efficiency of a matrix embedding finite length fibers has been modified by introducing the tube-to-tube random contact, which explicitly accounts for the progressive reduction of the tubes' effective aspect ratio as the filler content increases. The core of structure is porous and the internal pores and graphene platelets (GPLs) are distributed in the matrix of core either uniformly or non-uniformly according to three different patterns. The elastic properties of the nanocomposite are obtained by employing Halpin-Tsai micromechanics model. A semi-analytic approach composed of 2D-Generalized Differential Quadrature Method (2D-GDQM) and series solution is adopted to solve the equations of motion. The fast rate of convergence and accuracy of the method are investigated through the different solved examples. Some new results for the natural frequencies of the plate are prepared, which include the effects of elastic coefficients of foundation, boundary conditions, material and geometrical parameters. The new results can be used as benchmark solutions for future researches.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.12
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• pp.961-968
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• 2020

In this study, the effective thermal conductivity and elastic modulus of heat-resistant coating materials are analyzed by using micromechanical computational models. Three-dimensional computational models for HfC-coated carbon/carbon composites were created with Simpleware, and finite element analysis was performed. The porosity and thickness changes in the coating layer were taken into account to identify the tendency of effective material properties. In addition, the coupon specimen was produced to compare the thermal conductivity measured by experiments with the one obtained by finite element analysis according to temperature changes, and the analysis results were close to the measured values. This confirms that micromechanical computational analysis is appropriate in the calculation of effective material properties of coating composites.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.343-348
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• 2009

In this study, an efficient sequential bridging method to characterize both the particle size effect and concentration effect on the mechanical properties of nanocomposites at high volume fraction is suggested through a molecular dynamics(MD) simulations and micromechanics of composites materials. The Young's modulus and the shear modulus of the nanocomposites at various particle radius and at 12% volume fraction were obtained from MD simulations and multi-inclusion model was adopted to describe both modulus in continuum model. In order to describe the particle size effect, an additional phase, effective interface, was adopted as characteristic phase and the non-dilute concentration effect which appears at 12% volume fraction was describe via the variation of the elastic modulus of the infinite medium. Both the elastic modulus of the interface and infinite medium were fitted into functions of particle radius for the applicability of the present bridging method at various particle radii. Using the present bridging method the elastic modulus of the nanocomposites was efficiently obtained with accuracy. In addition, the effect of the interface thickness and modulus on the elastic modulus of the nanocomposite was investigated.