• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.48-56
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• 2013

In this paper, the equivalent elastic properties of fiber reinforced plastic laminar are investigated using various homogenization schemes. Although there are several methods for predicting the equivalent elastic properties such as analytical formula or semi-empirical formula, most of them have some limitations or are not much accurate when handling new composite material consisting of various fiber, matrix and fiber-volume fraction ratio. To resolve the issues, computational homogenization scheme is adopted with a representative volume element (RVE) comprised of a set of finite elements. Finally, the equivalent elastic properties are obtained by applying periodic boundary conditions. The obtained results are compared with those by the existing methods and test results. Also its effect on structural analysis results of the composite satellite panel is investigated.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.76-85
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• 2014

In this paper, the equivalent coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of fiber reinforced plastic composite material is investigated with various CTE prediction schemes. Although there are several methods for predicting the equivalent CTEs, most of them have some limitations of are not much accurate when comparing prediction results with test results. In the framework of computational homogenization, a representative volume element is taken from the predefined fiber-volume ratio, and modelled with finite element mesh. Finally, the equivalent CTEs are obtained by applying periodic boundary condition. To verify the performance of the proposed method, the results obtained are compared with those by the existing methods and test results. Additionally, the thermal pointing error analysis for star tracker support structure is conducted and its accuracy is estimated according to CTE prediction schemes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.197-213
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• 2011

Concrete is a heterogeneous material exhibiting quasi-brittle behaviour. While homogenization of concrete is commonly accepted in general engineering applications, a detailed description of the material heterogeneity using a mesoscale model becomes desirable and even necessary for problems where drastic spatial and time variation of the stress and strain is involved, for example in the analysis of local damages under impact, shock or blast load. A mesoscale model can also assist in an investigation into the underlying mechanisms affecting the bulk material behaviour under various stress conditions. Extending from existing mesoscale model studies, where use is often made of specialized codes with limited capability in the material description and numerical solutions, this paper presents a mesoscale computational model developed under a general-purpose finite element environment. The aim is to facilitate the utilization of sophisticated material descriptions (e.g., pressure and rate dependency) and advanced numerical solvers to suit a broad range of applications, including high impulsive dynamic analysis. The whole procedure encompasses a module for the generation of concrete mesoscale structure; a process for the generation of the FE mesh, considering two alternative schemes for the interface transition zone (ITZ); and the nonlinear analysis of the mesoscale FE model with an explicit time integration approach. The development of the model and various associated computational considerations are discussed in this paper (Part 1). Further numerical studies using the mesoscale model for both quasi-static and dynamic loadings will be presented in the companion paper (Part 2).