Energy transport properties in heterogeneous materials have attracted scientific interest for more than half of a century, and they continue to offer fundamental and rich questions. One of the outstanding challenges is to extend Anderson theory for uncorrelated and fully disordered lattices in condensed-matter systems to physical settings in which additional effects compete with disorder. Here we present the first systematic experimental study of energy transport and localization properties in simultaneously disordered and nonlinear granular crystals. In line with prior theoretical studies, we observe in our experiments that disorder and nonlinearity—which individually favor energy localization—can effectively cancel each other out, resulting in the destruction of wave localization. We also show that the combined effect of disorder and nonlinearity can enable manipulation of energy transport speed in granular crystals. Specifically, we experimentally demonstrate superdiffusive transport. Furthermore, our numerical computations suggest that subdiffusive transport should be attainable by controlling the strength of the system’s external precompression force.
The new generation of manufacturing technologies such as additive manufacturing and automated fiber placement has enabled the development of material systems with desired functional and mechanical properties via particular designs of inhomogeneities and their mesostructural arrangement. Among these systems, particularly interesting are materials exhibiting curvilinear transverse isotropy (CTI), in which the inhomogeneities take the form of continuous fibers following curvilinear paths designed to, for example, optimize the electric and thermal conductivity, and the mechanical performance of the system. In this context, the present work proposes a general framework for the exact, closed-form solution of electrostatic problems in materials featuring CTI. First, the general equations for the fiber paths that optimize the electric conductivity are derived, leveraging a proper conformal coordinate system. Then, the continuity equation for the curvilinear transversely isotropic system is derived in terms of electrostatic potential. A general exact, closed-form expression for the electrostatic potential and electric field is derived and validated by finite element analysis. Finally, potential avenues for the development of materials with superior electric conductivity and damage sensing capabilities are discussed.
The original version of this Article contained an error in second sentence of the Acknowledgements, which incorrectly read 'J.Y. and P.G.K. also acknowledge support from US-ARO (W911NF-15-1-0604) and US-AFOSR (FA9550-17-1-011), and P.G.K. also gratefully acknowledges support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation via the Greek Diaspora Fellowship Program'. The correct version states 'US-AFOSR (FA9550-17-1-0114)' in place of 'US-AFOSR (FA9550-17-1-011)'. This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.
A novel, discrete approach for the modeling of fiber reinforced composite materials which explicitly models the complex mesostructure is introduced. Fibers and fiber tows are represented as Timoshenko beam elements, and the mechanical behavior of the matrix is defined by vectorial constitutive laws expressed on facets obtained from the tessellation process in a tetrahedral mesh. For the mesoscale model generation, a computationally efficient, robust, and highly parallelized scheme is presented which is capable of generating laminates with fiber volume fractions higher than 60%.
Thanks to the explicit description, the constitutive laws of each constituent materials do not require complex mathematical equations and are physics-based with clearly defined material parameters.
To demonstrate the predictive capability of the model, uniaxial experiments are simulated for IM7/977-3 utilizing the novel framework. The investigated loading conditions include longitudinal tension/compression and transverse tension/compression. It is shown that the model is capable of capturing the strength of IM7/977-3 in both longitudinal and transverse directions. The damage mechanisms such as shear band formation and fiber micro-buckling are captured with the model using physics-based and clearly defined material parameters, thanks to the explicit description of fibers and matrix.
Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) technology provides a great ability to efficiently produce large carbon fiber reinforced composite structures with complex surfaces. AFP has a wide range of tow placement angles, and the users can design layup angles so that they can tailor the performance of the structure. However, despite the design freedom, the industry generally adopts a layering of 0 • , 90 • , and ±45 • ply-drop angles. Here, we demonstrate the optimization of ply-drop angles of non-conventional composites. Specifically, we use classical laminate theory and Bayesian optimization to achieve better layup angles in terms of stiffness, Tsai-Wu failure criteria, and manufacturing time.Our approach shows its effectiveness in designing carbon fiber composite structures using unconventional angles in terms of both mechanical properties and production efficiency. Our method has the potential to be used for more complex scenarios, such as the production of curved surfaces and the utilization of finite element analysis.
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