Quantifying the effects of particle clustering in random thermoelastic composites -- numerical and mean-field analyses

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the spatial distribution of particles affects the thermoelastic properties of composites, using numerical finite element methods and a novel mean-field cluster model.

Contribution

It introduces a multi-family mean-field interaction model to analyze local stress and strain distributions for different particle arrangements.

Findings

Particle clustering significantly influences effective thermoelastic properties.

The mean-field cluster model accurately predicts local stress and strain distributions.

Numerical simulations validate the impact of particle volume fraction and spacing.

Abstract

The effect of space distribution of randomly-placed particles in a representative composite volume on the thermoelastic effective properties and local stress and strain distribution is analyzed. Quantitative assessment is performed using both the full-field finite element analyses and the mean-field interaction model, known also as a ''cluster'' model. The latter model is developed in the multi-family setting enabling one to study the mean stress and strain separately for each inclusion of the representative unit cell. The particles are assumed to be spherical and of equal size, while considered examples differ by the volume fraction of inclusions and mean nearest-neighbour distances.