Evaluation of the Mechanical Properties of Lightweight Lattice Structures Subjected to Compressive Loading Part I : Analytical Approach for the Initial Stiffness and Plastic Collapse Strength

Abstract

In this paper, a theoretical analysis for predicting the mechanical properties of lattice structures under compressive loading is proposed, and verified by comparing the analytical predictions with FEM results. This theory for estimating E^* is based on the classical beam theory, and the one for estimating σ^*_pl reflects the stress state for each lattice structure. It is found that the BCC structure is a bending-dominated structure, and the BCCZ structure is a compression-dominated structure, and the ƒ₂BCC structure is a mixed loading-dominated (stretching or compression and bending-dominated) structure. Also, the results obtained by this theory agree well with the FEM results.