A morphological elastic model of general hexagonal columnar structures (Q5932329)

The authors develop a general three-dimensional anisotropic hexagonal model of columnar structure with non-uniform strut morphology. This model covers several types of cellular structures such as two-dimensional hexagonal and square honeycombs and three-dimensional hexagonal and rhombic cellular materials of rod-like columnar structure. The effect of tapered strut morphology on the elastic properties of cellular structures is investigated. It is found that the effective elastic properties of cellular materials are dependent not only on the relative density, but also on strut morphology both in cross-section geometry and in its variation along the strut length which the present model takes into account. The results illustrate the importance of strut morphology in calculating effective elastic properties of cellular materials.