A MULTICONTINUUM THEORY FOR STRUCTURAL-ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE-MATERIALSYSTEMS

The success of modern continuum mechanics in modelling problems in sol id mechanics is truly remarkable. For instance, the general theories o f elasticity, plasticity, and viscoeleasticity ail rely on the continu um hypothesis. However, while continuum mechanics has provided a power ful means of studying the physics of deformation of composite material s, there are situations when the continuum hypothesis is simply inadeq uate. These problems are generally associated with inelastic behavior and are mainly attributed to the necessity to homogenize two distinctl y different materials into a single continuum. In this paper, we intro duce a multicontinuum theory designed specifically for the analysis of composite material systems. The chief attribute of the theory is its ability to do structural analysis while allowing each constituent to r etain its own identity. Major analytical and numerical advances in the theory originally developed by Hansen et at. [Hansen, A. C., Walker, J. L. and Donovan, R. P. (1994). A finite element formulation for comp osite structures based on a volume fraction mixture theory. Int. J. En gng Sci. 32, 1-17.] are presented. The utility of the theory is demons trated by using constituent information to predict the yield surface o f a unidirectional boron/aluminum composite in the course of an analys is carried out at the structural level.