To demonstrate and discuss different ElastoDict‘s effective elastic properties, ElastoDict-Effective Stiffness computation results for two different fiber-reinforced composite structures are presented. The structures were generated with the FiberGeo module with isotropic and transverse isotropic fiber orientations.

Both composite structures contain the same type of fiber (curved elliptical, diameter 6 µm), at the same solid volume percentage, but differ in their fiber orientation. The isotropic structure has been generated with isotropic fiber orientation, while transverse isotropic structure has been generated with Anisotropy 1 = 1 and Anisotropy 2 = 10.

For more information on generating isotropic and anisotropic structures, see the FiberGeo User Guide.  

Here, already knowing that the fibers in the structure are isotropic or anisotropic helps explaining how to interpret the results obtained with ElastoDict. However, the true power of the ElastoDict analysis lies in cases where the orientation of the media is not known in advance, such as imported segmented 3D-images obtained from CT (Computed Tomography) scans.

The two composite structures generated with FiberGeo can be loaded for further simulations by selecting File → Open Structure (*gdt, *.gad)… in the menu bar.

To start ElastoDict, select Predict → ElastoDict in the menu bar. For each of the two runs, select Effective Stiffness from the pull-down menu.

In the Effective Stiffness Options dialog which opens after clicking the Edit... button, the values under the tabs are adjusted as seen below. For example, under the Constituent Materials tab, the values are adjusted to the mechanical properties values of Epoxy 3501-6 – Elastic and Glass – Elastic-Failure (E-Glass).

Click OK to close the solver options dialog and return to the ElastoDict section. After clicking Run, the iteration steps made during the calculation can be followed in the console.

At the end of each of the two computations, the Result Viewer of the result files open.

Under the Results - Report subtab, several outputs and approximations of the result are provided. These approximations correspond to the two different symmetry classes presented in this example.