9713764 Ostoja-Starzewski The multiscale mechanics of paper treated as a randomly structured materials is investigated under this project. The scales involved are from the level of a fiber network comprising hundreds, or thousands, of cellulose fibers (micron or millimeter scale) to an effective continuum level (centimeters or meters scale). Optical and confocal microscopy observations and measurements of fiber network micromechanics, biaxial tensile testing, and uniaxial tensile testing over a range of scales from 2 millimeters to 2 meters are made. These experiments are used as a basis for verification of computational micromechanics modeling of fiber networks, represented as large systems of randomly connected small beams, as well as for development of scale- dependent stochastic constitutive laws of paper. The results of this program are synthesized into ready-to-use formulas, maps, and software modules that could be used by the paper industry, researchers, and students. ***
