This Keynote Paper is concerned with the fundamental mechanics of granular materials with a particular reference to non-coaxial behaviour. The non-coaxial behaviour refers to the non-coincidence of principal stress directions and corresponding principal plastic strain rate directions during plastic deformation. At present, the majority of soil models used in geotechnical practice are those of a...

This paper proposes an advanced micromechanical model that introduces an intermediate scale (mesoscopic scale): elementary hexagonal patterns of adjoining particles. This is a breakthrough with respect to current micromechanical models that generally describe the material by a single distribution of contacts. In essence, such models can incorporate a variety of local physical mechanisms. In thi...

A micromechanical finite element (FE) framework was developed to predict the viscoelastic properties (complex modulus and creep stiffness) of the asphalt mixtures. The two-dimensional (2D) microstructure of an asphalt mixture was obtained from the scanned image. In the mixture microstructure, irregular aggregates and sand mastic were divided into different subdomains. The FE mesh was generated ...

Damage constitutive models based on micromechanical formulation and a combination of micromechanical and macromechanical damage criterions are presented to predict progressive damage in aligned and random fiber-reinforced composites. Progressive interfacial fiber debonding models are considered in accordance with a statistical function to describe the varying probability of fiber debonding. Bas...

Stimulus responsive elastomers are advanced engineered materials that perform desired functionalities when triggered by external stimuli. Liquid crystal (LCEs) one important example exhibit reversible actuation cycled above and below their nematic-to-isotropic transition temperature. Here, we propose a micromechanical-based model is centered on the evolution of chain distribution tensor LCE net...

Laminated composite plates are widely used in modern structures. Resins of composites are almost made of polymers which show time dependent and and in some cases stress dependent behaviour. In this paper, a laminated composite plate is analysed using a multiscale method. At first, material properties of a lamina is obtained using an analytical micromechanical approach called simplified unit cel...

This paper presents the design and a new low-cost process for fabrication of a second-order micromechanical filter using UV-LIGA technology. The micromechanical filter consists of two identical bulk-mode ring resonators, mechanically coupled by a flexural-mode beam. A new lumped modeling approach is presented for the bulk-mode ring resonators and filter. The validity of the analytical derivatio...