Overview of analysis methods and strategies for describing the thermomechanical behavior of composite and inhomogeneous materials: fields of application, strengths and weaknesses of different methods; practical application of selected methods.
The course is aimed at discussing modelling strategies and presenting methods for the analysis of composite materials and structures.
In the first part of the course laminate theories are introduced for predicting the stiffness of single laminae as well as laminates, and interlaminar stresses, free edge effects, failure modes and criteria as well as progressive failure are discussed. In addition, analytical and numerical methods for the stress and stability analysis of composite structures are considered.
The second part focuses on continuum micromechanical approaches to for studying the thermomechanical behavior of inhomogeneous materials. It covers analytical methods (ranging from simple "rules of mixture" to advanced mean field theories) as well as numerically based models (especially periodic microfield approaches based on studying unit cells).
In the third part of the course selected methods are applied to example problems that are solved by tthe students, who also present theit results.
