Modelling of the Mechanical Behaviour of Porous Materials: A New Approach

A new approach to porous materials modelling is presented. In this model a matrix of cells contains a number of randomly distributed void cells in order to obtain the desired porosity. The system is solved by means of a recent numerical method, the Cell Method. As an application, the Young modulus of four sintered alloys is computed and the simulations show a good agreement with the experimental results reported in literature, depending on the porosity of the sintered powder and the Young modulus of the wrought material. Besides this application, the approach is promising in a wider class of problems, namely all those in which a large number of random distributed heterogeneities or voids is present