Micromechanical Modeling of Porous Solids

Abstract

In this paper, we focus on the prediction of the elastic and linear viscoelastic properties of porous solids based on their microstructure for the entire range of porosity. Both analytical models, namely Mean Field theory for porous solids and beam theory for cellular solids, and Finite Elements method are used and the corresponding results are compared. For low porosity Mean Field models yield good predictions, but when increasing the void concentration and the pores become macroscopically interconnected, only the Differential Method continues to give good estimates. The potential of Mean Field models suitable for highly porous solids to predict the response of cellular materials is also investigated.