Measure of combined effects of morphological parameters of inclusions within composite materials via stochastic homogenization to determine effective mechanical properties

Abstract: In our previous papers we have described efficient and reliable methods of generation of representative volume elements (RVE) perfectly suitable for analysis of composite materials via stochastic homogenization. In this paper we profit from these methods to analyze the influence of the morphology on the effective mechanical properties of the samples. More precisely, we study the dependence of main mechanical characteristics of a composite medium on various parameters of the mixture of inclusions composed of spheres and cylinders. On top of that we introduce various imperfections to inclusions and observe the evolution of effective properties related to that. The main computational approach used throughout the work is the FFT-based homogenization technique, validated however by comparison with the direct finite elements method. We give details on the features of the method and the validation campaign as well. Keywords: Composite materials, Cylindrical and spherical reinforcements, Mechanical properties, Stochastic homogenization.