Effective property of piezoelectric composites containing coated nano-elliptical fibers with interfacial debonding

Based on both the spring layer interface model and the Gurtin-Murdoch surface/interface model,the anti-plane shear problem is studied for piezoelectric composites containing coated nano-elliptical fibers with imperfect interfaces.By using the complex function method and the technique of conformal mapping,the exact solutions of the electroelastic fields in fiber,coating,and matrix of piezoelectric nanocomposites are derived under far-field anti-plane mechanical and in-plane electrical loads.Furthermore,the generalized self-consistent method is used to accurately predict the effective electroelastic moduli of the piezoelectric nanocomposites containing coated nano-elliptical fibers with imperfect interfaces.Numerical examples are illustrated to show the effects of the material constants of the imperfect interface layers,the aspect ratio of the fiber section,and the fiber volume fraction on the effective electroelastic moduli of the piezoelectric nanocomposites.The results indicate that the effective electroelastic moduli of the piezoelectric nanocomposites can be significantly reduced by the interfacial debonding,but it can be improved by the surface/interface stresses at the small scale,which provides important theoretical reference for the design and optimization of piezoelectric nanodevices and nanostructures.

Analytical solution for the effective elastic properties of rocks with the tilted penny-shaped cracks in the transversely isotropic background

Seismic prediction of cracks is of great significance in many disciplines,for which the rock physics model is indispensable.However,up to now,multitudinous analytical models focus primarily on the cracked rock with the isotropic background,while the explicit model for the cracked rock with the anisotropic background is rarely investigated in spite of such case being often encountered in the earth.Hence,we first studied dependences of the crack opening displacement tensors on the crack dip angle in the coordinate systems formed by symmetry planes of the crack and the background anisotropy,respectively,by forty groups of numerical experiments.Based on the conclusion from the experiments,the analytical solution was derived for the effective elastic properties of the rock with the inclined penny-shaped cracks in the transversely isotropic background.Further,we comprehensively analyzed,according to the developed model,effects of the crack dip angle,background anisotropy,filling fluid and crack density on the effective elastic properties of the cracked rock.The analysis results indicate that the dip angle and background anisotropy can significantly either enhance or weaken the anisotropy degrees of the P-and SH-wave velocities,whereas they have relatively small effects on the SV-wave velocity anisotropy.Moreover,the filling fluid can increase the stiffness coefficients related to the compressional modulus by reducing crack compliance parameters,while its effects on shear coefficients depend on the crack dip angle.The increasing crack density reduces velocities of the dry rock,and decreasing rates of the velocities are affected by the crack dip angle.By comparing with exact numerical results and experimental data,it was demonstrated that the proposed model can achieve high-precision estimations of stiffness coefficients.Moreover,the assumption of the weakly anisotropic background results in the consistency between the proposed model and Hudson's published theory for the orthorhombic rock.

Novel implementation of homogenization method to predict effective properties of periodic materials

Representative volume element （RVE） method and asymptotic homogenization （AH） method are two widely used methods in predicting effective properties of pe- riodic materials. This paper develops a novel implementa- tion of the AH method, which has rigorous mathematical foundation of the AH method, and also simplicity as the RVE method. This implementation can be easily realized using commercial software as a black box, and can use all kinds of elements available in commercial software to model unit cells with rather complicated microstructures, so the model may remain a fairly small scale. Several examples were car- fled out to demonstrate the simplicity and effectiveness of the new implementation.

Influences of interphase on dynamic effective properties of composites reinforced by dispersed spherical particles

The influences of interphase on dynamic effective properties of composites reinforced by randomly dispersed spherical particles were studied. A thin homogeneous elastic interphase with different shear and bulk moduli, located between the reinforced particle and the host matrix, was introduced to model the interfacial bonding state. The effects of such an interphase on the coherent plane waves were studied numerically. Numerical simulations were carried out for SiC-Al composites with four typical cases of interphase. It was found that the property of interphase has significant influences on the effective propagation constants of coherent waves and the dynamic effective elastic moduli of the composites. The influences on the coherent longitudinal wave and the coherent shear waves were different and dependent upon the frequency range. Moreover, several imperfect interface models, i.e., the spring model, mass model, and spring-mass model, were studied numerically and compared with the interphase model, It was found that the spring model is a more suitable model than the mass model for the light and weak interphase whereas the mass model is a more suitable model than the spring model for the heavy and strong interphase.

RANDOM MICROSTRUCTURE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD AND ITS VERIFICATION FOR EFFECTIVE PROPERTIES OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

The present study aims at developing a new method-RandomMicrostructure Finite Element Method (RMFEM) for the effectiveproperties of com- Posite materials. In this method, a randommicrostructure Model is used to simulate the microstructure of thereal composite materials. The physical fields in such a randomMicrosturucture model under specified boundary and initial Conditionsare analyzed by finite element method.

Theoretical study on dynamic effective electroelastic properties of random piezoelectric composites with aligned inhomogeneities

The closed-form solutions of the dynamic problem of heterogeneous piezoelectric materials are formulated by introducing polarizations into a reference medium and using the generalized reciprocity theorem.These solutions can be reduced to the ones of an elastodynamic problem.Based on the effective medium method,these closedform solutions can be used to establish the self-consistent equations about the frequencydependent effective parameters,which can be numerically solved by iteration.Theoretical predictions are compared with the experimental results,and good agreement can be found.Furthermore,the analyses on the effects of microstructure and wavelength on the effective properties,resonance frequencies,and attenuation are also presented,which may provide some guidance for the microstructure design and analysis of piezoelectric composites.

RANDOM MICROSTRUCTURE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR EFFECTIVE NONLINEAR PROPERTIES OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

Some theoretical methods have been reported to deal with nonlinear problems of composite materials but the accuracy is not so good. In the meantime, a lot of linear problems are difficult to be managed by the theoretical methods. The present study aims to use the developed method, the random microstructure finite element method, to deal with these nonlinear problems. In this paper, the random microstructure finite element method is used to deal with all three kinds of nonlinear property problems of composite materials. The analyzed results suggest the influences of the nonlinear phenomena on the effective properties of composite materials are significant and the random microstructure finite element method is an effective tool to investigate the nonlinear problems.

Frequency-dependent dynamic effective properties of porous materials

The frequency-dependent dynamic effective properties (phase velocity, attenuation and elastic modulus) of porous materials are studied numerically. The coherent plane longitudinal and shear wave equations, which are obtained by averaging on the multiple scattering fields, are used to evaluate the frequency-dependent dynamic effective properties of a porous material. It is found that the prediction of the dynamic effective properties includes the size effects of voids which are not included in most prediction of the traditional static effective properties. The prediction of the dynamic effective elastic modulus at a relatively low frequency range is compared with that of the traditional static effective elastic modulus, and the dynamic effective elastic modulus is found to be very close to the Hashin-Shtrikman upper bound.

Influence of spherical inclusions on effective thermoelectric properties of thermoelectric composite materials

A homogenization theory is developed to predict the influence of spherical inclusions on the effective thermoelectric properties of thermoelectric composite materials based on the general principles of thermodynamics and Mori-Tanaka method.The closed-form solutions of effective Seebeck coefficient,electric conductivity,heat conductivity,and figure of merit for such thermoelectric materials are obtained by solving the nonlinear coupled transport equations of electricity and heat.It is found that the effective figure of merit of thermoelectric material containing spherical inclusions can be higher than that of each constituent in the absence of size effect and interface effect.Some interesting examples of actual thermoelectric composites with spherical inclusions,such as insulated cavities,inclusions subjected to conductive electric and heat exchange and thermoelectric inclusions,are considered,and the numerical results lead to the conclusion that considerable enhancement of the effective figure of merit is achievable by introducing inclusions.In this paper,we provide a theoretical foundation for analytically and computationally treating the thermoelectric composites with more complicated inclusion structures,and thus pointing out a new route to their design and optimization.

Effective electromechanical properties of cellular piezoelectret:A review

Due to the large quasi-piezoelectric d33 coefficient in the film thickness direction, cellular piezoelectret has emerged as a new kind of compliant electromechanical transducer materials. The macroscopic piezoelectric effect of cellular piezoelectret is closely related to the void microstructures as well as the material constants of host polymer. Complex void microstmctures are usually encountered in the optimum design of cellular piezoelectret polymer film with ad- vanced piezoelectric properties. Analysis of the effective electromechanical properties is generally needed. This article presents an overview of the recent progress on theoretical models and numerical simulation for the effective electromechanical properties of cellular piezoelectret. Emphasis is placed on our own works of cellular piezoelectret published in past several years.

MULTIPLE SCATTERING THEORY OF EFFECTIVE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF INHOMOGENEOUS MEDIA

The rate of hydrothermal reaction of SiO_2 and/or A1_2O_3 in the system of CaO-Al_2O_3-SiO_2-H_2O at 200℃ and the factors which influence the reactions are investigated by determining the reaction ratio.The rate of reactions depends on the reactive activities of raw materials, initial composition of mixture and relative activity of SiO_2 and A12O3. The hydrothermal reaction can be accelerated by sodium hydroxide,in the case of silica,which has low activity, this is quite obvious.

Effective Field Theory Techniques Applied to the Properties of the Axion

We utilize the effective field theory approach to study the properties of the axion. In particular, with s as well as u and d quarks regarded to be relatively light we derive a formula for the mass of the axion; a rough estimate of the rate for its dominant decay mode at low energy is also carried out.

Semi-analytical finite element method applied for characterizing micropolar fibrous composites

A semi-analytical finite element method(SAFEM),based on the two-scale asymptotic homogenization method(AHM)and the finite element method(FEM),is implemented to obtain the effective properties of two-phase fiber-reinforced composites(FRCs).The fibers are periodically distributed and unidirectionally aligned in a homogeneous matrix.This framework addresses the static linear elastic micropolar problem through partial differential equations,subject to boundary conditions and perfect interface contact conditions.The mathematical formulation of the local problems and the effective coefficients are presented by the AHM.The local problems obtained from the AHM are solved by the FEM,which is denoted as the SAFEM.The numerical results are provided,and the accuracy of the solutions is analyzed,indicating that the formulas and results obtained with the SAFEM may serve as the reference points for validating the outcomes of experimental and numerical computations.

THE EFFECTIVE PROPERTIES OF COMPOSITES WITH FIBER-END CRACKS

The paper describes use of self-consistent finite element method (SCFEM) for predicting effective properties of fiber composite with partially debonded interface. The effective longitudinal Young's modulus and shear modulus for unidirectional fiber reinforced composites with fiber-end cracks are calculated. Numerical results show that the effective properties are considerably influenced by the fiber-end cracks. The effects of microstructural parameters, such as fiber volume fraction, modulus ratio of the constituents and fiber aspect, on the effective properties of the composites were discussed.

Modeling Method of C/C-ZrC Composites and Prediction of Equivalent Thermal Conductivity Tensor Based on Asymptotic Homogenization

This article proposes a modeling method for C/C-ZrC composite materials.According to the superposition of Gaussian random field,the original gray model is obtained,and the threshold segmentation method is used to generate the C-ZrC inclusion model.Finally,the fiber structure is added to construct the microstructure of the three-phase plain weave composite.The reconstructed inclusions can meet the randomness of the shape and have a uniform distribution.Using an algorithm based on asymptotic homogenization and finite element method,the equivalent thermal conductivity prediction of the microstructure finite element model was carried out,and the influence of component volume fraction on material thermal properties was explored.The sensitivity of model parameters was studied,including the size,mesh sensitivity,Gaussian complexity,and correlation length of the RVE model,and the optimal calculation model was selected.The results indicate that the volume fraction of the inclusion phase has a significant impact on the equivalent thermal conductivity of the material.As the volume fraction of carbon fiber and ZrC increases,the equivalent thermal conductivity tensor gradually decreases.This model can be used to explore the impact of materialmicrostructure on the results,and numerical simulations have studied the relationship between structure and performance,providing the possibility of designing microstructure based on performance.

Wave propagation of a functionally graded plate via integral variables with a hyperbolic arcsine function

Several studies on functionally graded materials(FGMs)have been done by researchers,but few studies have dealt with the impact of the modification of the properties of materials with regard to the functional propagation of the waves in plates.This work aims to explore the effects of changing compositional characteristics and the volume fraction of the constituent of plate materials regarding the wave propagation response of thick plates of FGM.This model is based on a higher-order theory and a new displacement field with four unknowns that introduce indeterminate integral variables with a hyperbolic arcsine function.The FGM plate is assumed to consist of a mixture of metal and ceramic,and its properties change depending on the power functions of the thickness of the plate,such as linear,quadratic,cubic,and inverse quadratic.By utilizing Hamilton’s principle,general formulae of the wave propagation were obtained to establish wave modes and phase velocity curves of the wave propagation in a functionally graded plate,including the effects of changing compositional characteristics of materials.

APPLICATION OF A NEW FAST MULTIPOLE BEM FOR SIMULATION OF 2D ELASTIC SOLID WITH LARGE NUMBER OF INCLUSIONS

A fast multipole method(FMM)is applied for BEM to reduce both the operation and memory requirement in dealing with very large scale problems.In this paper,a new version of fast multipole BEM for 2D elastostatics is presented and used for simulation of 2D elastic solid with a large number of randomly distributed inclusions combined with a similar subregion approach.Generalized minimum residual method(GMRES)is used as an iterative solver to solve the equation system formed by BEM iteratively.The numerical results show that the scheme presented is applicable to certain large scale problems.

CONSISTENCY BETWEEN INDEPENDENCE THEOREMS AND GENERALIZED SELF-CONSISTENT METHOD

Recently Zheng & Hwang established a series of independence theorems concerning with planar effective elastic properties. It is manifested that the estimation of the effective elastic properties of microcracked solids through the generalized self-consistent method (GSCM) contradicts with these independence theorems. In this paper it is shown that such contradiction is actually caused by the approximate algorithm adopted, while the exact solution of GSCM is consistent with these rigorously established independence theorems. Since only an approximate algorithm in GCSM is available in dealing with problems involving non-circular inclusions or holes, an intrinsic GSCM is proposed, which can be performed based on an approximate algorithm and the corresponding estimations are consistent with the independence theorems.

Topology and Shape Optimization of 2-D and 3-D Micro-ArchitecturedThermoelastic Metamaterials Using a Parametric Level Set Method

2-D and 3-D micro-architectured multiphase thermoelastic metamaterials are designed and analyzed using a parametric level set method for topology optimization and the finite element method.An asymptotic homogenization approach is employed to obtain the effective thermoelastic properties of the multiphase metamaterials.Theε-constraint multi-objective optimization method is adopted in the formulation.The coefficient of thermal expansion(CTE)and Poisson’s ratio(PR)are chosen as two objective functions,with the CTE optimized and the PR treated as a constraint.The optimization problems are solved by using the method of moving asymptotes.Effective isotropic and anisotropic CTEs and stiffness constants are obtained for the topologically optimized metamaterials with prescribed values of PR under the constraints of specified effective bulk modulus,volume fractions and material symmetry.Two solid materials along with one additional void phase are involved in each of the 2-D and 3-D optimal design examples.The numerical results reveal that the newly proposed approach can integrate shape and topology optimizations and lead to optimal microstructures with distinct topological boundaries.The current method can topologically optimize metamaterials with a positive,negative or zero CTE and a positive,negative or zero Poisson’s ratio.

A new micromechanical approach of micropolar continuum modeling for 2-D periodic cellular material

In this paper, we present a new united approach to formulate the equivalent micropolar constitutive relation of two-dimensional（2-D） periodic cellular material to capture its non-local properties and to explain the size effects in its structural analysis. The new united approach takes both the displacement compatibility and the equilibrium of forces and moments into consideration, where Taylor series expansion of the displacement and rotation fields and the extended averaging procedure with an explicit enforcement of equilibrium are adopted in the micromechanical analysis of a unit cell.In numerical examples, the effective micropolar constants obtained in this paper and others derived in the literature are used for the equivalent micropolar continuum simulation of cellular solids. The solutions from the equivalent analysis are compared with the discrete simulation solutions of the cellular solids. It is found that the micropolar constants developed in this paper give satisfying results of equivalent analysis for the periodic cellular material.