A numerical homogenization technique for unidirectional composites using polygonal generalized finite elements

Abstract

The present study proposes a computational methodology to obtain the homogenized effective elastic properties of unidirectional fibrous composite materials by using the generalized finite-element method and penalization techniques to impose periodic boundary conditions on non-uniform polygonal unit cells. Each unit cell is described by a single polygonal finite element using Wachspress functions as base shape functions and different families of enrichment functions to account for the internal fiber influence on stresses and strains fields. The periodic boundary conditions are imposed using reflection laws between two parallel opposing faces using a Lagrange multiplier approach; this reflection law creates a distributed reaction force over the edges of the $n$ -gon from the direct application of a given deformation gradient, which simulates different macroscopic load cases on the macroscopic body the unit cell is part of. The methodology is validated through a comparison with results for similar unit cells found in the literature and its computational efficiency is compared to simple cases solved using a classic finite-element approach. This methodology showed computational advantages over the classic finite elements in both computational efficiency and total number of degrees of freedom for convergence and flexibility on the shape of the unit cell used. Finally, the methodology provides an efficient way to introduce non-circular fiber shapes and voids.