A finite deformation continuum modelling framework for curvature effects in fibre-reinforced nanocomposites

Motivated by experimental findings on one-dimensional nano-materials, this contribution focusses on the elaboration of a fibre curvature based higher-order gradient contribution to the stored energy function in a finite deformation setting. The presented approach is based on the fundamental theoretical developments for fibre-reinforced composites presented by Spencer and Soldatos (2007), which take into account the fibre-bending stiffness in addition to the directional dependency induced by the fibres. A mixed-type finite element formulation is then used for the solution of the resulting system of coupled partial differential equations. A specific form of the stored energy function is introduced such that well-interpretable contributions to the stress- and the couple stress tensor are obtained. It is shown that this framework may, in principle, account for fibres of different diameters and induces a natural length scale into the model. Such continuum theory covering size-effects is of special interest since experiments for different materials suggest significant size-effects at small length scales.