Micro-mechanical analysis of composite materials by BEM

Abstract

Applications to composites of a unit-cell model in conjunction with boundary element method (BEM) for determining their effective mechanical properties are discussed in this paper. The composite considered here consists of inclusion and matrix phases. A unit-cell model for composites with periodically distributed inhomogeneities is developed and introduced into a boundary element formulation to provide an effective means for estimating overall material constants of two-phase composites. In this model, the volume average stress and strain is calculated by the boundary tractions and displacements of the unit-cell and the periodic conditions of the composite are expressed by the periodic boundary conditions of the unit-cell. Thus BEM is suitable for performing calculations on average stress and strain fields of such composites. Numerical results for a two-phase composite with circular rigid inclusions are presented to illustrate the application of the proposed unit-cell boundary element formulation.