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Multiscale and Multiphysics Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials and Structures

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 19397

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Guannan Wang

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: multiphysics modeling of smart materials and structures; surface effects of micro/nanocomposites; mechanics of multiphase media under extreme supergravity condition

Prof. Dr. Wenqiong Tu

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School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhejiang 212013, China
Interests: micromechanics of heterogeneous materials; vehicle safety and crash

Dr. Zhelong He

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School of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Interests: multiscale modelling of heterogeneous materials; topology optimization of composites

Dr. Qiang Chen

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Guest Editor

LEM3 laboratory, Arts et Métiers Institute of Technology, F-57000 Metz, France
Interests: constitutive modelling; homogenization theory; data-driven mechanics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

All materials are heterogeneous at small scales. With the development of material science and technology, multiphase media has acquired extensive applications in various engineering fields, especially regarding the emerging biomaterials or smart composites. To circumvent time-consuming and costly full-scale modeling whilst reducing experimental costs, multiscale numerical techniques and homogenization theories are continuously developed to accommodate composite structures of various material systems. In the meantime, the long-term service of engineering structures demands a heterogeneous material integrity, which is difficult to avoid since damages/cracks are usually initiated from micro/nanostructures due to stress concentrations (especially around the interface of heterogeneous constituents) under mechanical loading and in harsh environments. The phenomenon is more significant when multiphysics behavior is involved, such as hygro-thermo-mechanical and even magnetoelectric or chemical reactions. Thus, it is essential to understand the connection between damage/cracks at the constituent level and the macro failure of composite structures to fully exploit the potential of advanced composites. In addition, insights into the multiphysics behavior of heterogeneous materials under a multiscale framework could help the design of composite structures for long-term service. Toward this end, we encourage researchers from the materials mechanics community to discuss relevant topics in the present Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Guannan Wang
Prof. Dr. Wenqiong Tu
Dr. Zhelong He
Dr. Qiang Chen
Guest Editors

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Keywords

heterogeneous materials
composite structures
multiscale simulation
multiphysics modeling
micromechanics of materials
homogenization
microcracks
structural failure

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 11181 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Feasibility of Stress Wave-Based Debond Defect Detection for RCFSTs Considering the Influence of Randomly Distributed Circular Aggregates with Mesoscale Homogenization Methodology

by Jiang Wang, Bin Xu, Qian Liu, Ruiqi Guan and Xiaoguang Ma

Materials 2023, 16(8), 3120; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16083120 - 15 Apr 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1314

Abstract

In order to efficiently investigate the effect of the mesoscale heterogeneity of a concrete core and the randomness of circular coarse aggregate distribution on the stress wave propagation procedure and the response of PZT sensors in traditional coupling mesoscale finite element models (CMFEMs), firstly, a mesoscale homogenization approach is introduced to establish coupling homogenization finite element models (CHFEMs) with circular coarse aggregates. CHFEMs of rectangular concrete-filled steel tube (RCFST) members include a surface-mounted piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) actuator, PZT sensors at different measurement distances, a concrete core with mesoscale homogeneity. Secondly, the computation efficiency and accuracy of the proposed CHFEMs and the size effect of representative area elements (RAEs) on the stress wave field simulation results are investigated. The stress wave field simulation results indicate that the size of an RAE limitedly affects the stress wave fields. Thirdly, the responses of PZT sensors at different measurement distances of the CHFEMs under both sinusoidal and modulated signals are studied and compared with those of the corresponding CMFEMs. Finally, the effect of the mesoscale heterogeneity of a concrete core and the randomness of circular coarse aggregate distribution on the responses of PZT sensors in the time domain of the CHFEMs with and without debond defects is further investigated. The results show that the mesoscale heterogeneity of a concrete core and randomness of circular coarse aggregate distribution only have a certain influence on the response of PZT sensors that are close to the PZT actuator. Instead, the interface debond defects dominantly affect the response of each PZT sensor regardless of the measurement distance. This finding supports the feasibility of stress wave-based debond detection for RCFSTs where the concrete core is a heterogeneous material. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiscale and Multiphysics Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials and Structures)

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23 pages, 79543 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multiscale Study of the Effect of Fiber Twist Angle and Interface on the Viscoelasticity of 2D Woven Composites

by Beibei Li, Cheng Liu, Xiaoyu Zhao, Jinrui Ye and Fei Guo

Materials 2023, 16(7), 2689; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16072689 - 28 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1386

Abstract

Time and temperature affect the viscoelasticity of woven composites, and thus affect their long-term mechanical properties. We develop a multiscale method considering fiber twist angle and interfaces to predict viscoelasticity. The multiscale approach is based on homogenization theory and the time–temperature superposition principle (TTSP). It is carried out in two steps. Firstly, the effective viscoelasticity properties of yarn are calculated using microscale homogenization; yarn comprises elastic fibers, interface, and a viscoelastic matrix. Subsequently, the effective viscoelasticity properties of woven composites are computed by mesoscale homogenization; it consists of homogenized viscoelastic yarns and matrix. Moreover, the multiscale method is verified using the Mechanics of Structure genome (MSG) consequence. Finally, the effect of temperature, fiber twist angle, fiber array, and coating on either the yarn’s effective relaxation stiffness or the relaxation moduli of the woven composite is investigated. The results show that increased temperature shortens the relaxation time of viscoelastic woven composites, and fiber twist angle affects tensors in the relaxation stiffness matrix of the yarn; the coating affects the overall mechanical properties of woven composites as well. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiscale and Multiphysics Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials and Structures)

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13 pages, 4663 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Molecular Dynamics Simulation on Nanoindentation of M50 Bearing Steel

by Xuyang Hu, Lei Yang, Xunkai Wei, Hao Wang and Guoru Fu

Materials 2023, 16(6), 2386; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16062386 - 16 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1825

Abstract

M50 bearing steel has great potential for applications in the field of aerospace engineering, as it exhibits outstanding mechanical and physical properties. From a microscopic point of view, bearing wear originates from the microscopic region of the contact interface, which usually only contains hundreds or even several atomic layers. However, the existing researches seldom study the wear of M50 bearing steel on the microscopic scale. This study explored the atomic-scale modeling method of M50 bearing steel. Then molecular dynamics simulations of nanoindentation on the M50 bearing steel model were carried out to study the size effect of the mechanical behaviors. The simulation results show that with the change in the radius of the diamond indenter in the nanoindentation simulation, the calculated nanohardness decreases. According to the size effect, when the indentation radius is 200 nm, the hardness obtained by the simulation is about 9.26 GPa, and that of the M50 sample measured by the nanoindentation is 10.4 GPa. Then nanoindentation simulations were carried out at different temperatures. The main bearings of aero-engines generally work at 300–500 degrees Celsius. When the simulated temperature was increased from 300 K to 800 K, the hardness of the model decreased by 15%, and the model was more prone to plastic deformation. In this study, a new molecular dynamics modeling method for M50 bearing steel was proposed, and then nanoindentation simulation was carried out, and the nanoindentation experiment verified the correctness of the model. These results are beneficial to the basic understanding of the mechanical performance of M50 bearing steel. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiscale and Multiphysics Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials and Structures)

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13 pages, 1488 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Inverse Identification and Design of Thermal Parameters of Woven Composites through a Particle Swarm Optimization Method

by Fei Guo, Xiaoyu Zhao, Wenqiong Tu, Cheng Liu, Beibei Li and Jinrui Ye

Materials 2023, 16(5), 1953; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16051953 - 27 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1382

Abstract

Designing thermal conductivity efficiently is one of the most important study fields for taking the advantages of woven composites. This paper presents an inverse method for the thermal conductivity design of woven composite materials. Based on the multi-scale structure characteristics of woven composites, a multi-scale model of inversing heat conduction coefficient of fibers is established, including a macroscale composite model, mesoscale fiber yarn model, microscale fiber and matrix model. In order to improve computational efficiency, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and locally exact homogenization theory (LEHT) are utilized. LEHT is an efficient analytical method for heat conduction analysis. It does not require meshing and preprocessing but obtains analytical expressions of internal temperature and heat flow of materials by solving heat differential equations and combined with Fourier’s formula, relevant thermal conductivity parameters can be obtained. The proposed method is based on the idea of optimum design ideology of material parameters from top to bottom. The optimized parameters of components need to be designed hierarchically, including: (1) combing theoretical model with the particle swarm optimization algorithm at the macroscale to inverse parameters of yarn; (2) combining LEHT with the particle swarm optimization algorithm at the mesoscale to inverse original fiber parameters. To identify the validation of the proposed method, the present results are compared with given definite value, which can be seen that they have a good agreement with errors less than 1%. The proposed optimization method could effectively design thermal conductivity parameters and volume fraction for all components of woven composites. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiscale and Multiphysics Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials and Structures)

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17 pages, 2331 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Trilinear Model for the Load–Slip Behavior of Headed Stud Shear Connectors

by Hao Meng, Wei Wang and Rongqiao Xu

Materials 2023, 16(3), 1173; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16031173 - 30 Jan 2023

Viewed by 1780

Abstract

Headed stud shear connectors are most broadly applied in various composite structures. There exist plenty of empirical formulae for load–slip curves. However, most of them are fitting formulae in particular forms. Due to the lack of physical model support, fitting empirical formulae apply only to cases with similar parameters to the tests. Therefore, this paper analyzes the load–slip curves of existing headed stud connectors, proposes three stages of slip deformation in the shear connectors and the corresponding trilinear model, and presents the analytical formulae for the stiffness and strength of headed stud shear connectors. Firstly, we model the headed studs and surrounding concrete as beams on the foundation model, derive the equivalent shear stiffness equations for headed studs, and establish the load–slip behaviors for the first two stages. Then, the connectors’ shear stiffness and shear strength in the third stage are derived based on the head stud’s plastic deformation characteristics and failure mode. Finally, the numerical results are presented and verified with the existing test results, showing that the trilinear model is conceptually straightforward, easy to apply, and has sufficient accuracy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiscale and Multiphysics Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials and Structures)

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19 pages, 2660 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analytical Model for Early Design Stage of Cable-Stayed Suspension Bridges Based on Hellinger–Reissner Variational Method

by Qian Feng, Peng Wei, Junbin Lou, Daiwei Wang, Jinbiao Cai and Rongqiao Xu

Materials 2022, 15(14), 4863; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15144863 - 12 Jul 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1994

Abstract

The cable-stayed suspension bridge is one type of bridge that has been increasingly applied to bridge engineering, especially in cross-sea projects. However, the complex combined system of this type of bridge makes it quite difficult for researchers to make a quick decision of the parameter values during the design stage. The Hellinger–Reissner method is applied here to analyze the deformation and force of the structural members in the bridge. The advantage of this method is that the solving of deformation and force is independent of each other, which would enhance the accuracy of the final results. Different load conditions are also considered in the analysis. The results from the present method are compared with test results and finite element analysis, and show good agreements. It implies that the Hellinger–Reissner is a comparatively more efficient method to help designers choose the key parameters for cable-stayed suspension bridges. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiscale and Multiphysics Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials and Structures)

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18 pages, 10739 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Calculation Model of Mechanical and Sealing Properties of NiTi Alloy Corrugated Gaskets under Shape Memory Effect and Hyperelastic Coupling: I Mechanical Properties

by Lingxue Zhu, Yang Liu, Mingxuan Li, Xiaofeng Lu and Xiaolei Zhu

Materials 2022, 15(14), 4836; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15144836 - 12 Jul 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3062

Abstract

NiTi alloy’s shape memory effect provides additional restoring force under temperature loads, making it an ideal material for gaskets. However, its yield stress is too large to form the initial seal. In this paper, by combining the advantages of corrugated structure and NiTi alloy’s shape memory effect, a NiTi alloy corrugated gasket is proposed. Its mechanical properties were studied using experiments and the finite element method. The influences of geometric parameters on gasket performance were discussed. The results show that the shape memory effect can greatly improve the contact stress of gaskets. The corrugation can effectively reduce the pre-tightening force. The contact stress of NiTi alloy corrugated gasket is significantly affected by plate thickness, gasket height, and corrugation pitch and shows a high nonlinear characteristic. The proposed finite element method (FEM) and the gasket contact stress prediction model are accurate and engineering available. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiscale and Multiphysics Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials and Structures)

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15 pages, 6498 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Calculation Model of Mechanical and Sealing Properties of NiTi Alloy Corrugated Gaskets under Shape Memory Effect and Hyperelastic Coupling: Two Sealing Properties

by Lingxue Zhu, Yang Liu, Mingxuan Li, Xiaofeng Lu and Xiaolei Zhu

Materials 2022, 15(13), 4659; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15134659 - 2 Jul 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3229

Abstract

Bolted flange connections are commonly used in process industries. Their sealing performance is greatly affected by the gasket. In this paper, a NiTi alloy corrugated gasket was simulated to reveal its sealing performance, considering the gasket surface roughness, shape memory effect and superelastic effect. A fluid–structure coupling analysis method that takes the real surface morphology of the gasket contact zone was proposed, and a leakage rate prediction model was established. The results showed that NiTi shape memory effect could enhance the sealing reliability in service and lower the leakage rate. The leakage rate of the NiTi alloy corrugated gasket is positively correlated with the internal pressure of the medium and the roughness of the sealing surface. The prediction model of the NiTi alloy corrugated gasket leakage rate has good reliability with an average error of about 16.81% compared with the simulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiscale and Multiphysics Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials and Structures)

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16 pages, 4774 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analytical Determination of Static Deflection Shape of an Asymmetric Extradosed Cable-Stayed Bridge Using Ritz Method

by Danfeng Lou, Yong Chen, Qian Feng and Jinbiao Cai

Materials 2022, 15(12), 4255; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15124255 - 15 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1589

Abstract

A practical method to analyze the mechanical behavior of the asymmetric extradosed cable-stayed (AECS) bridge is provided in this paper. The work includes the analysis of the equivalent membrane tension of the cables, the ratio of side-span cable force to middle-span cable force, and the deflection of the main girder subject to uniformly distributed load. The Ritz method is a simple and efficient way to solve composite structures, such as the AECS bridge, compared with the traditional force method, displacement method, or finite element method. The theoretical results obtained from the Ritz method are in good agreement with that from the finite element analysis, which shows the accuracy of this approach. Then, a parametric study of AECS bridges is carried out by using the proposed equations directly, instead of using the traditional finite element modeling process, which requires a lot of modeling work. As a result, reasonable values of very important parameters are suggested, which helps the readers reach a better understanding of the mechanical behavior of AECS bridges. More importantly, it helps the designers to enhance the efficiency in the stage of conceptual design. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiscale and Multiphysics Modeling of Heterogeneous Materials and Structures)

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