A Novel Approach to Model Nano-Microscale Interaction in Nanocomposites

Statement of Work Although nanocomposites have the potential to improve a wide range of mechanical and other functional properties, the physics of the interaction between nano materials and matrix/fiber systems is not fully understood. Development of high fidelity multiscale modeling is necessary to further improve the design and optimization of such nanocomposites. As a first step, this project will address the modeling of nanoparticles with the polymer matrix. To address the computational effort associated with repeated MD simulations, a stochastic MD/micromechanics modeling approach is proposed. The novel micromechanics based spring-damper network model will be used to efficiently and accurately represent material behavior at the microscale.