Implementation of the transformation field analysis for inelastic composite materials (Q1338234)

The method of transformation field analysis due to the first author [Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond., Ser. A 437, 311-327 (1992; Zbl 0748.73007)]\ is applied to investigate the mechanical response of a composite. The composite may consist of many perfectly bonded elastoplastic, viscoelastic and viscoplastic phases. The assumption of an additive decomposition of the small total strains is introduced, and all the inelastic strains or relaxation stresses are considered as eigenstrain or eigenstress fields. The generated residual fields are evaluated with certain transformation influence functions. Several examples of applications are numerically illustrated. The overall stress-strain predictions for composites are obtained by the method of transformation field analysis, and they are compared with those obtained by the standard elastic-plastic finite element procedure of the ABAQUS program. The results are obtained using only the concept of effective modulus of composites, and hence they are suitable for static response. This paper which depends heavily on the authors' earlier works is theoretical in nature, and it may be of particular value to researchers and engineers working in the area of composite materials and structures.