Micromechanical analysis for evaluation of voids effect on thermoelastic properties of composites via 1D higher-order theories

Abstract. The present work presents statistical results of numerical simulations to investigate the effect of different void percentages on composite materials’ coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). A random distribution of voids is simulated over the Representative Volume Element (RVE) matrix. The use of a high-order beam model within the framework of Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF) leads to a Component Wise (CW) description of the model cross-section. Numerical results for different fiber volume fractions and void concentration percentages are carried out, and the comparison with references from literature demonstrates the agreement in the average CTE trend.