Numerical investigations of foam-like materials by nested high-order finite element methods

In this paper we present a multiscale framework suited for geometrically nonlinear computations of foam-like materials applying high-order finite elements (p-FEM). This framework is based on a nested finite element analysis (FEA) on two scales, one nonlinear boundary value problem on the macroscale and k independent nonlinear boundary value problems on the microscale allowing for distributed computing. The two scales are coupled by a numerical projection and homogenization procedure. On the microscale the foam-like structures are discretized by high-order continuum-based finite elements, which are known to be very efficient and robust with respect to locking effects. In our numerical examples we will discuss in detail three characteristic test cases (simple shear, tension and bending). Special emphasis is placed on the material's deformation-induced anisotropy and the macroscopic load-displacement behavior.