A second-order homogenization procedure for multi-scale analysis based on micropolar kinematics

The paper presents a higher order homogenization scheme based on non-linear micropolar kinematics representing the macroscopic variation within a representative volume element (RVE) of the material. On the microstructural level the micro–macro kinematical coupling is introduced as a second-order Taylor series expansion of the macro displacement field, and the microstructural displacement variation is gathered in a fluctuation term. This approach relates strongly to second gradient continuum formulations, presented by, e.g. Kouznetsova et al. (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2002; 54:1235–1260), thus establishing a link between second gradient and micropolar theories. The major difference of the present approach as compared to second gradient formulations is that an additional constraint is placed on the higher order deformation gradient in terms of the micropolar stretch. The driving vehicle for the derivation of the homogenized macroscopic stress measures is the Hill–Mandel condition, postulating the equivalence of microscopic and macroscopic (homogenized) virtual work. Thereby, the resulting homogenization procedure yields not only a stress tensor, conjugated to the micropolar stretch tensor, but also the couple stress tensor, conjugated to the micropolar curvature tensor. The paper is concluded by a couple of numerical examples demonstrating the size effects imposed by the homogenization of stresses based on the micropolar kinematics. Copyright q 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.