Modelling for the Tensile Fracture Characteristic of Cellular Structures under Tensile Load with Size Effect

In the unit cell-based design of cellular structures, an important issue is the effect of the cellular pattern size (i.e. the number of unit cell numbers along different orientations) on their mechanical properties. Among these properties, the fracture properties are of great importance for a broad range of applications but have been rarely investigated. In this work the size effects on the fracture characteristic (including failure initiation, crack propagation and failure patterns) of the BCC, octet-truss, auxetic and octahedral structures under tensile loadings were analyzed based analytical models. It was found that for the fracture of the cellular structures there exist significant coupling effects between the unit cell topology and the cellular pattern size. The results also clearly suggested the importance of dedicating more design attentions to the boundaries of the cellular structures during their fracture designs. This study provides additional insights into the design considerations for the fracture properties of the cellular structures.Mechanical Engineerin