Representative elementary volume

About: Representative elementary volume is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4105 publications have been published within this topic receiving 86863 citations.

Development of an ABAQUS plugin tool for periodic RVE homogenisation

Abstract: EasyPBC is an ABAQUS CAE plugin developed to estimate the homogenised effective elastic properties of user created periodic representative volume element (RVE), all within ABAQUS without the need to use third-party software. The plugin automatically applies the concepts of the periodic RVE homogenisation method in the software’s user interface by categorising, creating, and linking sets necessary for achieving deformable periodic boundary surfaces, which can distort and no longer remain plane. Additionally, it allows the user to benefit from finite element analysis data within ABAQUS CAE interface after calculating homogenised properties. In this article, the algorithm of the plugin based on periodic RVE homogenisation method is explained, which could be developed for other commercial FE software packages. Furthermore, examples of its implementation and verification are illustrated.

Determining the equivalent permeability tensor for fractured rock masses using a stochastic REV approach: Method and application to the field data from Sellafield, UK

Abstract: A numerical procedure to determine the equivalent permeability tensor of a fractured rock is presented, using a stochastic REV (Representative Elementary Volume) concept that uses multiple realizat ...

Micromechanics of spatially uniform heterogeneous media: A critical review and emerging approaches

Abstract: Outside of the classical microstructural detail-free estimates of effective moduli, micromechanical analyses of macroscopically uniform heterogeneous media may be grouped into two categories based on different geometric representations of material microstructure. Analysis of periodic materials is based on the repeating unit cell (RUC) concept and the associated periodic boundary conditions. This contrasts with analysis of statistically homogeneous materials based on the representative volume element (RVE) concept and the associated homogeneous boundary conditions. In this paper, using the above classification framework we provide a critical review of the various micromechanical approaches that had evolved along different paths, and outline recent emerging trends. We begin with the basic framework for the solution of micromechanics problems independent of microstructural representation, and then clarify the often confused RVE and RUC concepts. Next, we describe classical models, including the available RVE-based models, and critically examine their limitations. This is followed by discussion of models based on the concept of microstructural periodicity. In the final part, two recent unit cell-based models, which continue to evolve, are outlined. First, a homogenization technique called finite-volume direct averaging micromechanics theory is presented as a viable and easily implemented alternative to the mainstream finite-element based asymptotic homogenization of unit cells. The recent incorporation of parametric mapping into this approach has made it competitive with the finite-element method. Then, the latest work based on locally-exact solutions of unit cell problems is described. In this approach, the interior unit cell problem is solved exactly using the elasticity approach. The exterior problem is tackled with a new variational principle that successfully overcomes the non-separable nature of the overall unit cell problem.

Micromechanics and effective moduli of elastic composites containing randomly dispersed ellipsoidal inhomogeneities

Abstract: A micromechanical framework is proposed to investigate effective mechanical properties of elastic multiphase composites containing many randomly dispersed ellipsoidal inhomogeneities. Within the context of the representative volume element (RVE), four governing micromechanical ensemble-volume averaged field equations are presented to relate ensemble-volume averaged stresses, strains, volume fractions, eigenstrains, particle shapes and orientations, and elastic properties of constituent phases of a linear elastic particulate composite. A renormalization procedure is employed to render absolutely convergent integrals. Therefore, the micromechanical equations and effective elastic properties of a statistically homogeneous composite are independent of the shape of the RVE. Various micromechanical models can be developed based on the proposed ensemble-volume averaged constitutive equations. As a special class of models, inter-particle interactions are completely ignored. It is shown that the classical Hashin-Shtrikman bounds, Walpole's bounds, and Willi's bounds for isotropic or anisotropic elastic multiphase composites are related to the “noninteracting” solutions. Further, it is demonstrated that the Mori-Tanaka methodcoincides with the Hashin-Shtrikman bounds and the “noninteracting” micromechanical model in some cases. Specialization to unidirectionally aligned penny-shaped microcracks is also presented. An accurate, higher order (in particle concentration), probabilistic pairwise particle interaction formulation coupled with the proposed ensemble-volume averaged equations will be presented in a companion paper.