Numerical investigation on mechanical behaviour of closed-cell aluminium foams using a representative volume element method

In this study, a representative volume element (RVE) method is developed to capture the mechanical behaviour of aluminum foams under compressive loadings. Octadecahedrons are selected for forming cells of a microstructured RVE model to simulate mechanical behaviour of the aluminium foams under quasi-static compressive loadings. A convergence test is conducted to determine an appropriate mesh density. The stress-strain relationship obtained from the numerical simulations is compared to that from experimental study and agreements between these results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed RVE model. Thereafter failure modes during a compressive loading process of the aluminum foams are also identified and discussed using this RVE model