Appropriate number of unit cells in a representative volume element for micro-structural bifurcation encountered in a multi-scale modeling (Q1605112)

The paper deals with computations of deformations in cellular solids (periodic honeycomb structures). The authors use the finite element modelling to numerically estimate the minimum eigenvalue and the post-buckling static deformation in representative volume element (RVE) containing \(N\) unit cells (number \(N\) varies from 2 to 7). The manuscript consists of three parts: variational, numerical and computational. In the first part (Section 2) the variational formulation of the boundary value problem for hyperelastic heterogeneous body is presented. Homogenization theory and multi-scale modelling is employed to separate scales and to reduce the problem on micro-scale to one suitable to numerical simulations. In the second part (Sections 3--5) the numerical algorithm is described. The authors describe linearization of the problem, construction of Jacobian stiffness matrix and its diagonalization. While in most of the papers on homogenization the effect of micro-scale is accounted in the 1-cell (the smallest periodic cell) problem, in this work the \(N\)-cell problem is considered. The authors also suggest a way to determine the appropriate number \(N\) ``as the period of critical bifurcation mode''. This approach is somewhat questionable because, although for buckling periodic cellular solids the deformation patterns clearly depend on the number of cells in RVE, the existence of optimal number \(N\) is not proven. Finally, in the third part (Section 6) the finite element computations are performed for honeycomb structures for three types of loading: (i) uniaxial compression; (ii) isotropic biaxial compression, and (iii) anisotropic biaxial compression. Number of cells considered is taken between 2 and 7. The computations show that sufficient number of unit cells in RVE is 2.