Elastic property prediction by finite element analysis with random distribution of materials for heterogeneous solids

In the present paper, finite element method is employed to predict the effective material properties of heterogeneous materials via random distributions of the constituent materials. With the random distributing strategy, massive parametric analysis via finite element becomes feasible for multi-phase heterogeneous solids. Using a two-phase bi-continuous material as an example, the effects of the specimen size with respect to the characteristic size of the micro-structural size and the element density on the predicted effective properties are considered. The numerical predictions of the effective properties are checked by two analytical bounds which were proposed by Hashin and Shtrikemn (1963) through the principle of variation and the matrix-fiber model. Some discussions on the finite element prediction are also made to clarify the status of the present work in the composite mechanics research.