Distinct element method modeling of carbon nanotube bundles with intertube sliding and dissipation

The recently developed distinct element method for mesoscale modeling of carbon nanotubes is extended to account for energy dissipation and then applied to characterize the constitutive behavior of crystalline carbon nanotube bundles subjected to simple tension and to simple shear loadings. It is shown that if these structures are sufficiently long and thick, then they become representative volume elements. The predicted initial stiffness and strength of the representative volumes are in agreement with reported experimental data. The simulations demonstrate that energy dissipation plays a central role in the mechanical response and deformation kinematics of carbon nanotube bundles.