Simulated annealing framework for generating representative volume elements of materials with complex ligamentous microstructures

At the microscale, various materials from biological tissues to nanoporous metals are formed by networks of ligaments. Here we propose a highly efficient simulated annealing (SA) framework for generating synthetic representative volume elements (RVE) of such materials. It can produce RVE where the microstructural characteristics both on the network level (e.g., node valency and ligament length) and on the level of individual ligaments (e.g., curvature) can be predefined by the user via probability distributions. As an application example of our framework, we generate a large variety of RVEs, analyze their mechanical properties by the finite element method, and establish through this approach links between microstructural descriptors and macromechanical properties of materials with ligamentous microstructures.