A Coupled VEM-BEM Approach for Computational Homogenization of Heterogeneous Materials

Abstract

The Boundary Element Method (BEM) is well established as an accurate and powerful numerical technique in continuum mechanics. Due to its intrinsic feature of reducing the problem's dimensionality, which allows reducing the modelling effort without compromising on the solution accuracy, the BEM has been successfully employed for the computational homogenization of materials with complex morphologies. The Virtual Element Method (VEM) has recently emerged as a powerful and robust technique, capable of handling very general polygonal/polyhedral mesh elements. Such a property is of interest in treating problems whose analysis domain presents complex geometric features, as it simplifies the data preparation stage of the analysis. In this work, we use a coupled VEM-BEM approach for computational homogenization of heterogeneous materials whose microstructure is characterized by inclusions of irregular shapes embedded in a surrounding matrix.

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