A multi-scale modeling and simulation study using FEATool Multiphysics to investigate stretching and deformation of a ligament under uniaxial tension is presented in the following. The study demonstrates how the FEATool simulation software can be used by students and non-experts to perform simulations and quickly get relevant results with a minimum of effort and time. The presented study was a collaborative effort by students, Rachel Aronow, Aaron da Silva, Rose Dennis, Abdel Kader Geraldo, Dean Katsaros, Melissa Sych, and Richard Touret, under the guidance of Professor QianYong Chen at the University of Massachusetts Amherst [1].
Material deformation and stress-strain is an active area of mathematical modeling relevant to industrial and research-oriented materials science. It is important to take variations in material properties into account in these models. Multi-scale models that incorporate inhomogeneity were studied and modeling frameworks that address this need were created and tested. Incorporating variations in material properties at the micro scale resulted in significantly different predictions of material deformation under similar loading. Variations in material properties were accounted for through averaging over stresses in representative volume elements (RVEs).
Reference
[1] Aronow R. et al. Multiple Scale Modeling for Predictive Material Deformation Analysis, Mathematics and Statistics Newsletter, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Volume 33, pp 4-6, 2017-2018.