Homogenization rates of beam lattices to micropolar continua

TL;DR

This paper provides a rigorous quantitative analysis of the homogenization process of beam lattices into micropolar continua, including error estimates and validation through numerical experiments, highlighting deviations from classical theory.

Contribution

It introduces a rigorous homogenization framework for beam lattices to micropolar continua with explicit error estimates and accounts for rotational degrees of freedom.

Findings

Homogenization error estimates are derived and validated.

Deviations from classical homogenization occur due to rotational degrees of freedom.

Optimal homogenization rates are confirmed through numerical experiments.

Abstract

As the size of a mechanical lattice with beam-modeled edges approaches zero, it undergoes homogenization into a continuum model, which exhibits unusual mechanical properties that deviate from classical Cauchy elasticity, named micropolar elasticity. Typically, the homogenization process is qualitative in the engineering community, lacking quantitative homogenization error estimates. In this paper, we rigorously analyze the homogenization process of a beam lattice to a continuum. Our approach is initiated from an engineered mechanical problem defined on a triangular lattice with periodic boundary conditions. By applying Fourier transformations, we reduce the problem to a series of equations in the frequency domain. As the lattice size approaches zero, this yields a homogenized model in the form of a partial differential equation with periodic boundary conditions. This process can be easily justified if the external conditions in the frequency domain are nonzero only at low-frequency modes. However, through numerical experiments, we discover that beyond the low-frequency regime, the homogenization of the beam lattice differs from classical periodic homogenization theory due to the additional rotational degrees of freedom in the beams. A crucial technique in our analysis is the decoupling of displacement and rotation fields, achieved through a linear algebraic manipulation known as the Schur complement. Through dedicated analysis, we establish the coercivity of the Schur complements in both lattice and continuum models, which enables us to derive convergence rate estimates for homogenization errors. Numerical experiments validate the optimality of the homogenization rate estimates.