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Estimation of material properties of nanocomposite structures

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Abstract

A method for the numerical modelling of mechanical behaviour of nanocomposite materials reinforced with the carbon nanotubes, based on computational homogenization as a multi-scale method, is presented. Since the carbon nanotube inside of the representative volume element (RVE) is modelled as a space frame structure, theoretical background and a proper way of modelling of carbon nanotubes is given. Novelty in this paper is an incorporation of interactions, based on the weak van der Waals forces and modelled by nonlinear rod elements, into a multiscale model as described below. An algorithm is developed for analysis of those interactions. Since the problem of modelling nanocomposite structures is a three-dimensional multi-scale problem, one part of this work is dedicated to multi-scale modelling methods, especially to the first order computational homogenization. Computational homogenization and representative volume element are the basis of the presented numerical model of the nanocomposites. Nano scale model is based on beam and non-linear rod finite elements. For the purpose of the software verification, examples, i.e. models of the nanocomposite material are presented. Obtained results are compared with the results given by the other authors.

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Acknowledgements

The research presented in this paper was realized within the scientific project No. 069-0691736-1737 “Numerical analysis of structural response for specific service conditions” financially supported by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Mechanics, Faculty of Engineering, University of Rijeka, Vukovarska 58, 51000, Rijeka, Croatia

    Marino Brcic, Marko Canadija & Josip Brnic

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  1. Marino Brcic
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  2. Marko Canadija
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  3. Josip Brnic
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Correspondence to Marino Brcic.

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Brcic, M., Canadija, M. & Brnic, J. Estimation of material properties of nanocomposite structures. Meccanica 48, 2209–2220 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11012-013-9738-3

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