Analytical and numerical modeling of thermal strains in two-phase composites

This study introduces a novel approach to modeling thermal strains in composite materials. A formulation is developed to calculate volume average thermal strains for each constituent of a two-phase composite using the effective thermal expansion coefficient. The methodology is applied through both analytical and numerical methods. The analytical approach uses effective field methods, while the numerical implementation utilizes the finite element method. Two case studies, focusing on particulate and fibrous composites, are examined. Comparisons between the analytical and numerical results demonstrate a strong agreement and highlight the effectiveness of the proposed approach.