Author(s)

A. I. Akpoyomare, M. I. Okereke, M. S. Bingley

Abstract

Predicting the effective thermo-mechanical response of heterogeneous materials such as composites, using virtual testing techniques, requires imposing periodic boundary conditions on geometric domains. However, classic methods of imposing periodic boundary conditions require identical finite element mesh constructions on corresponding regions of geometric domains. This type ofmesh construction is infeasible for heterogeneous materials with complex architecture such as textile composites where arbitrary mesh constructions are commonplace. This paper discusses interpolation techniques for imposing periodic boundary conditions on general finite element mesh constructions for predicting the effective elastic properties of a variety of heterogeneous materials. Benchmark virtual tests on identical and non-identical meshes demonstrate the high fidelity of the proposed periodic boundary conditions enforcement technique, in comparison to a conventional technique of imposing periodic boundary conditions and experimental data.

Keywords

effective properties, periodic boundary condition, textile composite, meso-scale modelling, finite element, heterogeneous materials, virtual testing