Effect of number of grains and boundary conditions on digital material representation deformation under plane strain

The main goal of this paper is to investigate the digital material representation of a single-phase polycrystalline unit cell. Particular attention is put on the amount of grains in the microstructure, which can be considered as the representative volume element of a sample subjected to plastic deformation conditions. Additionally, the influences of the periodic and non-periodic boundary conditions on deformation behavior of the unit cells are evaluated. Possibility of the application of periodic boundary conditions on the non-periodic unit cells using a buffer zone approach is also discussed. Obtained results of equivalent strains and reaction force on case studies are presented.