In this study, a numerical modeling approach was used to investigate the current-voltage behavior of conductive nanoplatelet-based nanocomposites. A three-dimensional continuum Monte Carlo model was employed to randomly disperse the nanoplatelets in a cubic representative volume element. A nonlinear finite element-based model was developed to evaluate the electrical behavior of the nanocomposit...

The effect of interfacial bonding of glass hollow microspheres and a polymer matrix on the elastic properties of syntactic foam was investigated using representative volume element (RVE) models, including partially debonded interfaces. Finite element analysis, with models having different debonding geometries, was performed to numerically estimate the elastic behavior of the models. The models ...

We present a Finite Element (FE) approach to model the conductivity and strain-sensing capabilities of Carbon Nanotube (CNT) reinforced polymer composites. A periodic Representative Volume Element (RVE) is constructed based on measurable statistical descriptors of the microstructure, and its response is simulated by concurrent electrical and mechanical FE analyses; the scatter of the prediction...

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) demonstrate unusually high stiffness, strength and resilience, and are therefore an ideal reinforcing material for nanocomposites. However, much work has to be done before the potentials of CNT-based composites can be fully realized.  Evaluating the effective material properties of such nanoscale materials is a very difficult tasks.  Simulations using molecular dynamics ...

In this study, two-dimensional electro-mechanical analysis of a composite rotating shaft subjected to non-axisymmetric internal pressure and applied voltage is investigated where hollow piezoelectric shaft reinforced by boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs). Composite structure is modeled based on piezoelectric fiber reinforced composite (PFRC) theory and a representative volume element has been cons...

Prediction of mechanical properties of carbon nanotube-based composite is one of the important issues which should be addressed reasonably. A proper modeling approach is a multi-scale technique starting from nano scale and lasting to macro scale passing in-between scales of micro and meso. The main goal of this research is to develop a multi-scale modeling approach to extract mechanical propert...

The paper reports on finite element method (FEM) analysis of Cu–SiC composites behaviour under cyclic loading conditions. In order to emphasise the influence of materials description on following results, there were two hardening rules used to describe the plastic behaviour of the matrix: (a) simple isotropic and (b) combined isotropic-kinematic. Reinforcing ceramics was assumed to be perfectly...

In this paper, we review various methods for the numerical approximations of the Ginzburg–Landau models of superconductivity. Particular attention is given to the different treatment of gauge invariance in both the finite element, finite difference, and finite volume settings. Representative theoretical results, typical numerical simulations, and computational challenges are presented. Generali...

A size-dependent strain gradient Mori-Tanaka model (SGMT) is developed by applying strain gradient elasticity to the classical Mori-Tanka (M-T) method. The SGMT model is shown to be able to accurately predict the experimentally observed increase in stiffness of a layerby-layer (LBL)-assembled polyurethane-montmorillonite (PU-MTM) nanocomposite with various volume fractions. 3D Finite Element (F...