Optimising Material Density of Cellular Bodies in High Elastic Deformation

Abstract eng:
For cellular bodies with uniform cell size, wall thickness, and shape, an important question is whether the same volume of material has the same effect when arranged as many small cells or as fewer large cells. Numerically, we assess the independent impact of cell size and number of cells on the mechanical behaviour of finite element models of periodic, honeycomb-like structures of neo-Hookean or Mooney-Rivlin material, and obtain that the mean non-linear elastic modulus and Poisson 's ratio in the cell walls increase as the number of cells increases while the total volume of solid material remains fixed. This is due to the enhanced elasticity of the cell walls when the material is distributed more uniformly throughout the structure. The results presented here provide valuable information in understanding the behaviour of cellular structures of non-linear elastic material and can be used to optimise their design for various applications.

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