Computational, Multiscale and Experimental Mechanics of Fibers and Fibrous Materials

 

The mechanical behavior of individual fibers, networks of fibers and fiber-composites is essential for a wide variety of engineering applications. Elaborate research efforts made in (bio)materials sciences are made to predict and experimentally characterize their mechanical behavior. Some examples are the prediction and characterization of small-scale behavior, constitutive behavior and the behavior of mesostructures. Other examples receiving considerable attention these days are multiscale approaches to efficiently include small-scale mechanics in engineering-scale computations and approaches to incorporate network failures in a stochastic manner. This mini-symposium aims to show recent advances made on computational (multiscale) models and experimental methodologies of fibers, fibrous networks and fiber-composite materials. Examples of numerical and experimental methodologies may focus on:

• discrete beam and spring models,

• constitutive descriptions,

• multiscale strategies,

• stochastic failures in network materials,

• meso- and micro-structure characterization techniques,

• mechanical testing for identification and validation purposes.


Examples of applications can be:

• ropes,

• paper materials,

• textiles,

• non-woven networks,

• collagen networks, and

• fiber-composites.