Numerical modelling of the foamed materials structures with the usage of the 2D and beam elements

The possible options as materials for protective layers are aluminium foams which become also very popular due to their lightweight and excellent plastic energy absorbing properties. Such characteristics have been appreciated by the automotive industry with continued research to further understandfoam properties. Compressed foaming materials exhibit extensive plastic response, while the initial elastic region is limited in tension by a tensile brittle-failure stress. Aluminium foams have become an attractive material as blast protective layers due to their desirable compressive properties. With different material engineering techniques (as, for example double-layer foam cladding) they can be customized to achieve the most desirable properties. Energy absorption capacity of foams under blast load was analytically confirmed based on a rigid-perfectly plastic-locking foam model. Initial research indicates that energy absorbed by the cladding is much larger than that under quasi-static conditions due to shock wave effect. The methods of numerical modellingfor open and closed cell aluminium foams arepresented in the paper. The numerical models of foam ideal microstructures created with shell and together shell and beam finite elements are shown. The models were developed on the basis of Kelvin tetrakaidecahedrons - structures consisting of six sąuares and eight hexagons. In the case of open cell foams the circle wholes were removed from polyhedron surfaces. Then the numerical analysis o f a created models compressive test was carried out with the usage of MSC.Marc computer code. The nonlinear procedur es were applied. The results were analyzed in the scope of the assessing the behaviour of the open cell aluminium foam unit cell under the compressive load.