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1. Micromechanics-based elasto-plastic–damage energy formulation for strain gradient solids with granular microstructure

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00161-021-01023-1  

   Placidi, Luca ; Barchiesi, Emilio ; Misra, Anil ; Timofeev, Dmitry ( May 2021 , Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics)

   null (Ed.)

   This paper is devoted to the development of a continuum theory for materials having granular microstructure and accounting for some dissipative phenomena like damage and plasticity. The continuum description is constructed by means of purely mechanical concepts, assuming expressions of elastic and dissipation energies as well as postulating a hemi-variational principle, without incorporating any additional postulate like flow rules. Granular micromechanics is connected kinematically to the continuum scale through Piola's ansatz. Mechanically meaningful objective kinematic descriptors aimed at accounting for grain-grain relative displacements in finite deformations are proposed. Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) type conditions, providing evolution equations for damage and plastic variables associated to grain-grain interactions, are derived solely from the fundamental postulates. Numerical experiments have been performed to investigate the applicability of the model. Cyclic loading-unloading histories have been considered to elucidate the material-hysteretic features of the continuum, which emerge from simple grain-grain interactions. We also assess the competition between damage and plasticity, each having an effect on the other. Further, the evolution of the load-free shape is shown not only to assess the plastic behavior, but also to make tangible the point that, in the proposed approach, plastic strain is found to be intrinsically compatible with the existence of a placement function. 

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2. Extended granular micromechanics approach: a micromorphic theory of degree n

   https://doi.org/10.1177/1081286519879479  

   Nejadsadeghi, Nima ; Misra, Anil ( October 2019 , Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids)

   For many problems in science and engineering, it is necessary to describe the collective behavior of a very large number of grains. Complexity inherent in granular materials, whether due the variability of grain interactions or grain-scale morphological factors, requires modeling approaches that are both representative and tractable. In these cases, continuum modeling remains the most feasible approach; however, for such models to be representative, they must properly account for the granular nature of the material. The granular micromechanics approach has been shown to offer a way forward for linking the grain-scale behavior to the collective behavior of millions and billions of grains while keeping within the continuum framework. In this paper, an extended granular micromechanics approach is developed that leads to a micromorphic theory of degree n. This extended form aims at capturing the detailed grain-scale kinematics in disordered (mechanically or morphologically) granular media. To this end, additional continuum kinematic measures are introduced and related to the grain-pair relative motions. The need for enriched descriptions is justified through experimental measurements as well as results from simulations using discrete models. Stresses conjugate to the kinematic measures are then defined and related, through equivalence of deformation energy density, to forces conjugate to the measures of grain-pair relative motions. The kinetic energy density description for a continuum material point is also correspondingly enriched, and a variational approach is used to derive the governing equations of motion. By specifying a particular choice for degree n, abridged models of degrees 2 and 1 are derived, which are shown to further simplify to micro-polar or Cosserat-type and second-gradient models of granular materials.

    

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3. Granular micromechanics‐based identification of isotropic strain gradient parameters for elastic geometrically nonlinear deformations

   https://doi.org/10.1002/zamm.202100059  

   Barchiesi, Emilio ; Misra, Anil ; Placidi, Luca ; Turco, Emilio ( May 2021 , ZAMM - Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics / Zeitschrift für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik)

   null (Ed.)

   Although the primacy and utility of higher-gradient theories are being increasingly accepted, values of second gradient elastic parameters are not widely available due to lack of generally applicable methodologies. In this paper, we present such values for a second-gradient continuum. These values are obtained in the framework of finite deformations using granular micromechanics assumptions for materials that have granular textures at some ‘microscopic’ scale. The presented approach utilizes so-called Piola’s ansatz for discrete-continuum identification. As a fundamental quantity of this approach, an objective relative displacement between grain-pairs is obtained and deformation energy of grain-pair is defined in terms of this measure. Expressions for elastic constants of a macroscopically linear second gradient continuum are obtained in terms of the microscale grain-pair parameters. Finally, the main result is that the same coefficients, both in the 2D and in the 3D cases, have been identified in terms of Young’smodulus, of Poisson’s ratio and of a microstructural length. 

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4. Tiling Patterns and the Mechanical Properties of Topologically Interlocked Materials

   A. Williams, T. Siegmund ( October 2019 , Proceedings of the 56th Annual Technical Meeting of the Society of Engineering Science)

   Topologically interlocked materials (TIMs) are material systems consisting of one or more repeating unit blocks assembled in a planar configuration such that each block is fully constrained geometrically by its neighbours. The assembly is terminated by a frame that constrains the outermost blocks. The resulting plate-like structure does not use any type of adhesive or fastener between blocks but is capable of carrying transverse loads. These material systems are advantageous due to their potential attractive combination of strength, toughness, and damage tolerance as compared to monolithic plates, especially when using lower strength materials. TIMs are damage tolerant due to the fact that cracks in any single block cannot propagate to neighbouring blocks. Many configurations of TIMs have been conceptualized in the past, particularly in architecture, but less work has been done to understand the mechanics of such varied assembly architectures. This work seeks to expand our knowledge of how TIM architecture is related to TIM mechanics. The present study considers TIMs created from the Archimedean and Laves tessellations. Each tessellation is configured as a TIM by projecting each edge of a tile at alternating angles from the normal to the tiling plane. For each tiling, multiple symmetries exist depending on where the frame is placed relative to the tiling. Six unique tilings and their multiple symmetries and load directions were considered, resulting in 19 unique TIM configurations. All TIM configurations were realized with identical equivalent overall assembly dimensions. The radius of the inscribed circle of the square and hexagon frames were the same, as well as the thickness of the assemblies. The tilings were scaled to possess the similar same number of building blocks within the frame. Finite element models were created for each configuration and subjected to two load types under quasi-static conditions: a prescribed displacement applied at the center of the assembly, and by a gravity load. The force deflection response of all TIM structures was found to be similar to that of a Mises truss, comprised of an initial positive stiffness followed by a period of negative stiffness until failure of the assembly. This response is indeed related to the internal working of load transfer in TIMs. Owing to the granular type character of the TIM assembly, the stress distribution follows a force-network. The key findings of this study are: • The load transfer in TIMs follows from force networks and the geometry of the force network is associated with the dual tessellation of the respective TIM system. • In TIMs based on Laves tessellations (centered around a vertex of the tiling rather than the center of a tile), displayed chirality and exerted a moment normal to the tile plane as they were loaded. • TIMs resulting from tessellations with more than one unique tile, such as squares and octagons, are asymmetric along the normal to the tile plane causing a dependence of the load response to the direction of the transverse load. Work is underway to transform these findings into general rules allowing for a predictive relationship between material architecture and mechanical response of TIM systems. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1662177. 

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5. On the statics and dynamics of granular-microstructured rods with higher order effects

   https://doi.org/10.1177/10812865211009938  

   Nejadsadeghi, Nima ; Misra, Anil ( March 2021 , Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids)

   null (Ed.)

   Granular-microstructured rods show strong dependence of grain-scale interactions in their mechanical behavior, and therefore, their proper description requires theories beyond the classical theory of continuum mechanics. Recently, the authors have derived a micromorphic continuum theory of degree n based upon the granular micromechanics approach (GMA). Here, the GMA is further specialized for a one-dimensional material with granular microstructure that can be described as a micromorphic medium of degree 1. To this end, the constitutive relationships, governing equations of motion and variationally consistent boundary conditions are derived. Furthermore, the static and dynamic length scales are linked to the second-gradient stiffness and micro-scale mass density distribution, respectively. The behavior of a one-dimensional granular structure for different boundary conditions is studied in both static and dynamic problems. The effects of material constants and the size effects on the response of the material are also investigated through parametric studies. In the static problem, the size-dependency of the system is observed in the width of the emergent boundary layers for certain imposed boundary conditions. In the dynamic problem, microstructural effects are always present and are manifested as deviations in the natural frequencies of the system from their classical counterparts. 

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