Keywords: finite element method, random unit cell, composite materials, elastic properties, rubberized concrete, recycling.

A typical problem in solid mechanics is the evaluation of the material properties of a composite material made of a statistically isotropic random distribution of isotropic and elastic particles embedded in a continuous, isotropic and elastic matrix. One approach to designing new composites is using the predictive finite element method (FEM) to highlight the effects of changes in material properties on the elastic mechanical properties of the composite. Young's modulus is an important mechanical property that may be calculated by a variety of methods. In order to obtain realistic macroscopic behaviour predictions of new composites by the computational means, three-dimensional numerical simulation of statistically representative micro-heterogeneous material samples is unavoidable. Recently, some random unit cells have been developed to model distributed particles composites [3,2,6,5]. Effective properties of randomly distributed spherical particles composites using the random sequential adsorption (RSA) algorithm have been assessed and compared with different analytical methods. In this work, we propose to use the random unit cell finite element method in order to investigate the effects of material and numerical parameters on the mechanical properties of a rubberized concrete composite [1]. Before a future introduction of the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) phase in the unit cell model [4], we firstly consider rubberized concrete as two-phase composite: cement paste and inclusions of rubber (aggregates). Secondly, we will consider rubberized concrete as three-phase composite: cement paste, inclusions of rubber and entrapped air voids. A study is conducted to evaluate the effect of various material and numerical parameters of the random unit cell method for the prediction of Young's modulus of rubberized concrete composites. Results are compared with experiments in the full paper.

1

A. Benazzouk, K. Mezreb, G. Doyen, A. Goullieux, M. Quéneudec, "Effect of rubber aggregates on the physico-mechanical behaviour of cement-rubber composites-influence of the alveolar texture of rubber aggregates", Cem Concr Compos, 25, 711-720, 2003. doi:10.1016/S0958-9465(02)00067-7

2

H.J. Bohm, A. Eckschlager, W. Han, "Multi-inclusion unit cell models for metal matrix composites with randomly oriented discontinuous reinforcements", Comput Mater, 25, 4253, 2002. doi:10.1016/S0927-0256(02)00248-3

3

A.A. Gusev, "Representative volume element size for elastic composites: a numerical study", J Mech Phys Solids, 45:14491459, 1997. doi:10.1016/S0022-5096(97)00016-1

4

B. Huang, G. Li, S.S. Pang, J. Eggers, "Investigation into Waste Tire Rubber-Filled Concrete", J Mat Civil Eng, 16, 187-194, 2004. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0899-1561(2004)16:3(187)

5

S. Kari, H. Berger, R. Rodriguez-Ramos, U. Gabbert, "Computational evaluation of effective material properties of composites reinforced by randomly distributed spherical particles", Compos Struct, 77, 223-231, 2007. doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2005.07.003

6

J. Segurado, J.A. Llorca, "Numerical approximation to the elastic properties of sphere-reinforced composites", J Mech Phys Solids, 50, 21072121, 2003. doi:10.1016/S0022-5096(02)00021-2

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