Local stochastic analysis of the effective material response of disordered two-dimensional model foams

The objective of the present study is a numerical analysis of disorder effects in solid structural foams caused by their random irregular micro structure. Using a strain energy based concept, the effective material response is computed in a probabilistic homogenization based on the analysis of a large scale statistically representative volume element. The stochastic information about the scatter in the material response on the lowest possible level is generated by a subsequent division of the representative volume element in substructures consisting of a single cell wall intersection and parts of the adjacent cell walls. For each of the substructures a homogenization analysis is performed. The results for the local effective stress and strain components are evaluated by means of stochastic methods.