A novel asymptotic expansion homogenization analysis for 3-D composite with relieved periodicity in the thickness direction

A new asymptotic expansion homogenization analysis is proposed to analyze 3-D composite in which thermomechanical and finite thickness effects are considered. Finite thickness effect is captured by relieving periodic boundary condition at the top and bottom of unit-cell surfaces. The mathematical treatment yields that only 2-D periodicity (i.e. in in-plane directions) is taken into account. A unit-cell representing the whole thickness of 3-D composite is built to facilitate the present method. The equivalent in-plane thermomechanical properties of 3-D orthogonal interlock composites are calculated by present method, and the results are compared with those obtained by standard homogenization method (with 3-D periodicity). Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio obtained by present method are also compared with experiments whereby a good agreement is particularly found for the Young’s modulus. Localization analysis is carried out to evaluate the stress responses within the unit-cell of 3-D composites for two cases: thermal and biaxial tensile loading. Standard finite element (FE) analysis is also performed to validate the stress responses obtained by localization analysis. It is found that present method results are in a good agreement with standard FE analysis. This fact emphasizes that relieving periodicity in the thickness direction is necessary to accurately simulate the real free-traction condition in 3-D composite.