Application of dual boundary element method in active sensing

In this paper, a boundary element method (BEM) for the dynamic analysis of 3D solid structures with bonded piezoelectric transducers is presented. The host structure is modelled with BEM and the piezoelectric transducers are formulated using a 3D semi-analytical finite element approach. The elastodynamic analysis of the entire structure is carried out in Laplace domain and the response in time domain is obtained by inverse Laplace transform. The BEM is validated against established finite element method (FEM).

Alternative boundary integral equations for fracture mechanics in 2D anisotropic bodies

An alternative dual boundary element formulation for generally anisotropic linear elastic twodimensional bodies is presented in this contribution. The formulation is based on the decomposition of the displacement field into the sum of a vector field satisfying the anisotropic Laplace equation and the gradient of the classic Airy stress function. By suitable manipulation of the integral representation of the anisotropic Laplace equation, a set of alternative integral equations is obtained, which can be used in combination with the displacement boundary integral equation for the solution of crack problems. Such boundary integral equations have the advantage of avoiding hyper-singular integral…

A Model for High-Cycle Fatigue in Polycrystals

A grain-scale formulation for high-cycle fatigue inter-granular degradation in polycrystalline aggregates is presented. The aggregate is represented through Voronoi tessellations and the mechanics of individual bulk grains is modelled using a boundary integral formulation. The inter-granular interfaces degrade under the action of cyclic tractions and they are represented using cohesive laws embodying a local irreversible damage parameter that evolves according to high-cycle continuum damage laws. The consistence between cyclic and static damage, which plays an important role in the redistribution of inter-granular tractions upon cyclic degradation, is assessed at each fatigue solution jump,…

Spherical Harmonics Expansion of Fundamental Solutions and Their Derivatives for Homogeneous Elliptic Operators

In this work, a unified scheme for computing the fundamental solutions of a three-dimensional homogeneous elliptic partial differential operator is presented. The scheme is based on the Rayleigh expansion and on the Fourier representation of a homogeneous function. The scheme has the advantage of expressing the fundamental solutions and their derivatives up to the desired order without any term-by-term differentiation. Moreover, the coefficients of the series need to be computed only once, thus making the presented scheme attractive for numerical implementation. The scheme is employed to compute the fundamental solution of isotropic elasticity showing that the spherical harmonics expansion…

A micro-mechanical model for grain-boundary cavitation in polycrystalline materials

In this work, the grain-boundary cavitation in polycrystalline aggregates is investigated by means of a grain-scale model. Polycrystalline aggregates are generated using Voronoi tessellations, which have been extensively shown to retain the statistical features of real microstructures. Nucleation, thickening and sliding of cavities at grain boundaries are represented by specific cohesive laws embodying the damage parameters, whose time evolution equations are coupled to the mechanical model. The formulation is presented within the framework of a grain-boundary formulation, which only requires the discretization of the grain surfaces. Some numerical tests are presented to demonstrate the fea…

A three-dimensional boundary element model for the analysis of polycrystalline materials at the microscale

A three-dimensional multi-domain anisotropic boundary element formulation is presented for the analysis of polycrystalline microstructures. The formulation is naturally expressed in terms of intergranular displacements and tractions that play an important role in polycrystalline micromechanics, micro-damage and micro-cracking. The artificial morphology is generated by Hardcore Voronoi tessellation, which embodies the main statistical features of polycrystalline microstructures. Each crystal is modeled as an anisotropic elastic region and the integrity of the aggregate is restored by enforcing interface continuity and equilibrium between contiguous grains. The developed technique has been ap…

A Multiscale Approach to Polycrystalline Materials Damage and Failure

A two-scale three-dimensional approach for degradation and failure in polycrystalline materials is presented. The method involves the component level and the grain scale. The damage-induced softening at the macroscale is modelled employing an initial stress boundary element approach. The microscopic degradation is explicitly modelled associating Representative Volume Elements (RVEs) to relevant points of the macro continuum and employing a cohesive-frictional 3D grain-boundary formulation to simulate intergranular degradation and failure in the Voronoi morphology. Macro-strains are downscaled as RVEs' periodic boundary conditions, while overall macro-stresses are obtained upscaling the micr…

Modelling Polycrystalline Materials: An Overview of Three-Dimensional Grain-Scale Mechanical Models

International audience; A survey of recent contributions on three-dimensional grain-scale mechanical modelling of polycrystalline materials is given in this work. The analysis of material micro-structures requires the generation of reliable micro-morphologies and affordable computational meshes as well as the description of the mechanical behavior of the elementary constituents and their interactions. The polycrystalline microstructure is characterized by the topology, morphology and crystallographic orientations of the individual grains and by the grain interfaces and microstructural defects, within the bulk grains and at the inter-granular interfaces. Their analysis has been until recentl…

A Grain Boundary Formulation for the Analysis of Three-Dimensional Polycrystalline Microstructures

A 3D grain boundary formulation is presented for the analysis of polycrystalline microstructures. The formulation is expressed in terms of intergranular displacements and tractions, that play an important role in polycrystalline micromechanics, micro-damage and micro-cracking. The artificial morphology is generated by Hardcore Voronoi tessellation, which embodies the main statistical features of polycrystalline microstructures. Each crystal is modeled as an anisotropic elastic region and the integrity of the aggregate is restored by enforcing interface continuity and equilibrium between contiguous grains. The developed technique has been applied to the numerical homogenization of cubic poly…

Piezoelectric bimorph response with imperfect bonding conditions

The effect of the finite stiffness bonding between the piezoelectric plies of bimorph devices has been investigated. A boundary integral formulation for piezoelasticity, based on a multidomain technique with imperfect interface conditions, has been developed. The imperfect interface conditions between the piezoelectric layers are described in terms of linear relations between the interface tractions, in normal and tangential directions, and the respective discontinuity in displacements. Continuity of the electric potential at the interface is also assumed and an iterative procedure is implemented to avoid interface interference. Numerical analysis has been performed on bimorph configuration…

Tensile Failure of Bio-inspired Lattices with Different Base Topologies

In the last decades the use of cellular materials, either in the form of foams or lattices, has widely spread in engineering due to their specific properties, namely their high mechanical and multifunctional properties in terms of strength, stiffness, energy absorption, thermal and acoustic insulation at small weight compared to bulk materials. These features can be achieved, in the case of lattices, by designing their structure at different scales, both in two and three dimensions. Additionally, nowadays, complex desired geometries may be easily obtained thanks to consolidated and even recent technologies of production, especially Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques. The aim of the pres…

A single-domain Ritz approach for buckling and post-buckling analysis of cracked plates

Abstract A Ritz approach for the analysis of buckling and post-buckling of plates with through-the-thickness cracks is presented. The plate behavior is described by the first order shear deformation theory and von Karman’s geometric nonlinearity. The admissible functions used in the displacements approximation are series of regular orthogonal polynomial supplemented with special functions able to decribe the dicontinuity across the crack and the singularity at the crack tips; boundary functions are used to fullfill the homogeneous essential boundary conditions. Convergence studies and analysis results are presented for buckling and post-buckling of plates with a central through-the-thicknes…

A microstructural model for homogenisation and cracking of piezoelectric polycrystals

Abstract An original three-dimensional generalised micro-electro-mechanical model for computational homogenisation and analysis of degradation and micro-cracking of piezoelectric polycrystalline materials is proposed in this study. The model is developed starting from a generalised electro-mechanical boundary integral representation of the micro-structural problem for the individual bulk grains and a generalised cohesive formulation is employed for studying intergranular micro-damage initiation and evolution into intergranular micro-cracks. To capture the electro-mechanical coupling at the evolving damaging intergranular interfaces, standard mechanical cohesive laws are enriched with suitab…

A boundary element formulation for magneto-electro-elastic laminates

A cohesive boundary element approach to material degradation in three-dimensional polycrystalline aggregates

A new three-dimensional grain-level formulation for intergranular degradation and failure in polycrystalline materials is presented. The polycrystalline microstructure is represented as a Voronoi tessellation and the boundary element method is used to express the elastic problem for each crystal of the aggregate. The continuity of the aggregate is enforced through suitable conditions at the intergranular interfaces. The grain-boundary model takes into account the onset and evolution of damage by means of an irreversible linear cohesive law, able to address mixed-mode failure conditions. Upon interface failure, a non-linear frictional contact analysis is introduced for addressing the contact…

Virtual element method for computational homogenization of composite and heterogeneous materials

Abstract In this study, a two-dimensional multi-region framework, based on the use of the Virtual Element Method (VEM), is developed for computational materials homogenization and applied to different classes of widely employed heterogeneous materials. The VEM has recently emerged as a powerful generalisation of the Finite Element Method capable of dealing with very general polygonal mesh elements, including non-convex or highly distorted elements. Such features are appealing for the treatment of problems whose analysis domains present complex or statistical morphological features, which would generally require careful and time-consuming mesh/data preparation and regularization. In this wor…

Displacement boundary method for vibrations of piezoelectric materials

On the effect of the adhesive on piezoelectric bimorph response

two-scale three-dimensional boundary element framework for degradation and failure in polycrystalline materials

A fully three-dimensional two-scale boundary element approach to degradation and failure in polycrystalline materials is proposed. The formulation involves the engineering component level (macroscale) and the material grain scale (micro-scale). The damage-induced local softening at the macroscale is modelled employing an initial stress approach. The microscopic degradation processes are explicitly modelled by associating Representative Volume Elements (RVEs) to relevant points of the macro continuum and employing a three-dimensional grain-boundary formulation to simulate intergranular degradation and failure in the microstructural Voronoi-type morphology through cohesive-frictional contact …

Virtual Element Method: Micro-Mechanics Applications

In this contribution we present an application of the lowest order Virtual Element Method (VEM) to the problem of material computational homogenization. Material homogenization allows retrieving material properties through suitable volume averaging procedures, starting from a detailed representation of the micro-constituents of the considered material. The representation of such microstructure constitutes a remarkable effort in terms of data/mesh preparation, especially when there is not evident microstructural regularity. For such a reason, computational micromechanics may represent a challenging benchmark for showing the potential of VEM. In this contribution, polycrystalline materials ar…

A computational aeroelastic framework based on high-order structural models and high-fidelity aerodynamics

A computational framework for high-fidelity static aeroelastic analysis is presented. Aeroelastic analysis traditionally employs a beam stick representation for the structure and potential, inviscid and irrotational flow assumptions for the aerodynamics. The unique contribution of this work is the introduction of a high-order structural formulation coupled with a high-fidelity method for the aerodynamics. In more details, the Carrera Unified Formulation coupled with the Finite Element Method is implemented to model geometrically complex composite, laminated structures as equivalent bi-dimensional plates. The open-source software SU2 is then used for the solution of the aerodynamic fields. T…

A thermodynamically consistent CZM for low-cycle fatigue analysis

A cohesive zone model for low-cycle fatigue analysis is developed in a consistent thermodynamic framework of elastic-plastic-damage mechanics with internal variable. A specific fatigue activation condition allows to model the material degradation related to the elastic-plastic cyclic loading conditions, with tractions levels lower than the damage activation condition. A moving endurance surface, in the classic framework of kinematic hardening, enables a pure elastic behavior without any fatigue degradation for low levels loading conditions.

3D boundary element analysis of delamination crack using the Modified Crack Closure Integral

A hybrid virtual–boundary element formulation for heterogeneous materials

Abstract In this work, a hybrid formulation based on the conjoined use of the recently developed Virtual Element Method (VEM) and the Boundary Element Method (BEM) is proposed for the effective computational analysis of multi-region domains, representative of heterogeneous materials. VEM has been recently developed as a generalisation of the Finite Element Method (FEM) and it allows the straightforward employment of elements of general polygonal shape, maintaining a high level of accuracy. For its inherent features, it allows the use of meshes of general topology, including non-convex elements. On the other hand, BEM is an effective technique for the numerical solution of sets of boundary i…

Intergranular damage and fracture in polycrystalline materials. A novel 3D microstructural grain-boundary formulation

The design of advanced materials requires a deep understanding of degradation and failure pro- cesses. It is widely recognized that the macroscopic material properties depend on the features of the microstructure. The knowledge of this link, which is the main subject of Micromechanics [1], is of relevant technological interest, as it may enable the design of materials with specific requirements by means of suitable manipulations of the microstructure. Polycrystalline materials are used in many technological applications. Their microstructure is characterized by the grains morphology, size distribution, anisotropy, crystallographic orientation, stiffness and toughness mismatch and by the phy…

A fast BEM for the analysis of plates with bonded piezoelectric patches

In this paper a fast boundary element method for the elastodynamic analysis of 3D structures with bonded piezoelectric patches is presented. The elastodynamic analysis is performed in the Laplace domain and the time history of the relevant quantities is obtained by inverse Laplace transform. The bonded patches are modelled using a semi-analytical state-space variational approach. The computational features of the technique, in terms of required storage memory and solution time, are improved by a fast solver based on the use of hierarchical matrices. The presented numerical results show the potential of the technique in the study of structural health monitoring (SHM) systems.

A fast BEM model for 3D elastic structures with attached piezoelectric sensors

A fast boundary element model for the analysis of three-dimensional solids with cracks and adhesively bonded piezoelectric patches, used as strain sensors, is presented. The piezoelectric sensors, as well as the adhesive layer, are modeled using a 3D state space finite element approach. The piezoelectric patch model is formulated taking into account the full electro-mechanical coupling and embodying the suitable boundary conditions and it is eventually expressed in terms of the interface variables, to allow a straightforward coupling with the underlying host structure, which is modeled through a 3D dual boundary element method, for accurate analysis of cracks. The technique is computational…

Coupling BEM and VEM for the Analysis of Composite Materials with Damage

Numerical tools which are able to predict and explain the initiation and propagation of damage at the microscopic level in heterogeneous materials are of high interest for the analysis and design of modern materials. In this contribution, we report the application of a recently developed numerical scheme based on the coupling between the Virtual Element Method (VEM) and the Boundary Element Method (BEM) within the framework of continuum damage mechanics (CDM) to analyze the progressive loss of material integrity in heterogeneous materials with complex microstructures. VEM is a novel numerical technique that, allowing the use of general polygonal mesh elements, assures conspicuous simplific…

Fast Solution of 3D Elastodynamic Boundary Element Problems by Hierarchical Matrices

In this paper a fast solver for three-dimensional elastodynamic BEM problems formulated in the Laplace transform domain is presented, implemented and tested. The technique is based on the use of hierarchical matrices for the representation of the collocation matrix for each value of the Laplace parameter of interest and uses a preconditioned GMRES for the solution of the algebraic system of equations. The preconditioner is built exploiting the hierarchical arithmetic and taking full advantage of the hierarchical format. An original strategy for speeding up the overall analysis is presented and tested. The reported numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique.

Analysis of piezoelectric composite laminates with edge delamination

Composite piezoelectric laminates play a crucial role in the development of the smart structures technology for aeronautical and aerospace applications, since they combine the mechanical features of the classical laminates with the additional capability to sense deformation and to adapt the structural response accordingly, allowing in this way an efficient structural control, which is achieved by exploiting the features of the electromechanical coupling. In piezoelectric devices the electrical and mechanical loads give rise to stresses whose intensity can be sufficiently high to lead to the failure of the material, especially if damage is present. In this framework, a topic of great relevan…

A boundary element model for structural health monitoring using piezoelectric transducers

In this paper, for the first time, the boundary element method (BEM) is used for modelling smart structures instrumented with piezoelectric actuators and sensors. The host structure and its cracks are formulated with the 3D dual boundary element method (DBEM), and the modelling of the piezoelectric transducers implements a 3D semi-analytical finite element approach. The elastodynamic analysis of the structure is performed in the Laplace domain and the time history is obtained by inverse Laplace transform. The sensor signals obtained from BEM simulations show excellent agreement with those from finite element modelling simulations and experiments. This work provides an alternative methodolog…

A Thermodynamically Consistent CZM for Low-Cycle Fatigue Analysis

A cohesive zone model for low-cycle fatigue analysis is developed in a consistent thermodynamic framework of elastic-plastic-damage mechanics with internal variable. A specific fatigue activation condition allows to model the material degradation related to the elastic-plastic cyclic loading conditions, with tractions levels lower than the damage activation condition. A moving endurance surface, in the classic framework of kinematic hardening, enables a pure elastic behavior without any fatigue degradation for low levels loading conditions.

A computational framework for low-cycle fatigue in polycrystalline materials

Abstract A three-dimensional framework for low-cycle fatigue analysis of polycrystalline aggregates is proposed in this work. First, a cohesive law coupling plasticity and damage is developed for modelling cycle-by-cycle degradation of material interfaces up to complete de-cohesion and failure. The law may model both quasi-static degradation under increasing monotonic load and degradation under cyclic loading, through a coupled plasticity-damage model whose activation and flow rules are formulated in a thermodynamically consistent framework. The proposed interface laws have been then implemented and coupled with a multi-region boundary element formulation, with the aim of analysing low-cycl…

Computational modelling of brittle failure in polycrystalline materials using cohesive-frictional grain-boundary elements

A 3D grain-level formulation for the study of brittle failure in polycrystalline microstructures is presented. The microstructure is represented as a Voronoi tessellation and the boundary element method is used to model each crystal of the aggregate. The continuity of the aggregate is enforced through suitable conditions at the intergranular interfaces. The grain-boundary model takes into account the onset and evolution of damage by means of an irreversible linear cohesive law, able to address mixed-mode failure conditions. Upon interface failure, a non-linear frictional contact analysis is introduced for addressing the contact between micro-crack surfaces. An incremental-iterative algorith…

A three-dimensional grain boundary formulation for microstructural modeling of polycrystalline materials

Abstract A three-dimensional grain boundary formulation is presented for the analysis of polycrystalline microstructures. The formulation is based on a boundary integral representation of the elastic problem for the single grains of the polycrystalline aggregate and it is expressed in terms of the intergranular fields, namely displacements and tractions, that play an important role in polycrystalline micromechanics. The artificial polycrystalline morphology is represented using the Hardcore Voronoi tessellation, which is simple to generate and able to embody the main statistical features of polycrystalline microstructures. The details of the microstructure generation and meshing, which invo…

A 3D multi-physics boundary element computational framework for polycrystalline materials micro-mechanics

A recently developed novel three-dimensional (3D) computational framework for the analysis of polycrystalline materials at the grain scale is described in this lecture. The framework is based on the employment of: i) 3D Laguerre-Voronoi tessellations for the representation of the micro-morphology of polycrystalline materials; ii) boundary integral equations for the representation of the mechanics of the individual grains; iii) suitable cohesive traction-separation laws for the representation of the multi-physics behavior of the interfaces (either inter-granular or trans-granular) within the aggregate, which are the seat of damage initiation and evolution processes, up to complete decohesion…

A non-linear Ritz method for the analysis of low velocity impact induced dynamics in variable angle tow composite laminates

Abstract Variable angle tow (VAT) laminates feature composite layers reinforced by fibres following continuous curved paths and offer a wide structural design space for the manufacturing of composite components. In this work, a formulation for the analysis of the impact-induced dynamics in VAT laminated plates is proposed, implemented and tested in this work. The method is based on the adoption of first order shear deformation kinematics and includes von Karman non-linear strains. The discrete system is obtained by employing a pb-2 Ritz series expansion into the Hamilton’s variational statement, while the impact loading is modelled through Hertzian contact law. The resulting non-linear gove…

Micro damage and cracking in fibre reinforced composites by a novel hybrid numerical technique

Article number 0033974 AIP Incluida en Conference Proceedings 2309 The prediction of failure mechanisms in fibre-reinforced composite materials is of great importance for the design of composite engineering applications. With the aim of providing a tool able to predict and explain the initiation and propagation of damage in unidirectional fiber reinforced composites, in this contribution we develop a micromechanical numerical model based on a novel hybrid approach coupling the virtual element method (VEM) and the boundary element method (BEM). The BEM is a popular numerical technique, efficient and accurate, which has been successfully applied to interfacial fracture mechanics problems of f…

Free vibrations of anisotropic panels

A meshfree approach, called Displacement Boundary Method, for the analysis of in-plane and out-of-plane free vibrations of anisotropic plates is presented. The discretization process is based on the use of a modified variational principle and the static fundamental solutions of the problem operators. The stiffness and mass matrices are frequencyindependent, symmetric and positive definite and their computation requires boundary integrations of regular kernels only. Thus, the final resolving system can be solved with classical approaches by using standard numerical procedures. Numerical results are presented to show the accuracy and effectiveness of the method.

A fast BEM for the analysis of damaged structures with bonded piezoelectric sensors

A fast boundary element method for the analysis of three-dimensional solids with cracks and adhesively bonded piezoelectric patches, used as strain sensors, is presented. The piezoelectric sensors, as well as the adhesive layer, are modeled using a 3D state-space finite element approach. The piezoelectric patch model is formulated taking into account the full electro-mechanical coupling and embodying the suitable boundary conditions and it is eventually expressed in terms of the interface variables, to allow a straightforward coupling with the underlying host structure, which is modeled through a 3D dual boundary element method, for accurate analysis of cracks. The technique is computationa…

A high-resolution layer-wise discontinuous Galerkin formulation for multilayered composite plates

Abstract In this work, a novel high-resolution formulation for multilayered composite plates is presented. The formulations is referred to as high-resolution since it combines (i) Layer-Wise plate theories, which are based on a per-layer, high-order expansion of the primary variables throughout the plate’s thickness, providing a detailed layer-level description of the sought solution; (ii) The discontinuous Galerkin method, a numerical approach based on a discontinuous representation of the unknown fields over the mesh elements and on the introduction of boundary integral operators enforcing inter-element continuity, which allow the natural treatment of high-order mesh elements and provide …

Porosity effects on elastic properties of polycrystalline materials: a three-dimensional grain boundary formulation

Polycrystalline materials are widely used in many technological applications of engineering interest. They constitute an important class of heterogeneous materials, and the investigation of the link between their macro and micro properties, main task of the micromechanics [1], is of relevant technological concern. The internal structure of a polycrystalline material is determined by the size and the shape of the grains, by their crystallographic orientation and by different type of defects within them. In this sense, the presence of internal voids, pores, is important to take into account in the determination of the polycrystalline aggregate properties. Porosity exists in almost all materia…

A fast 3D BEM for anisotropic elasticity based on hierarchical matrices

In this paper a fast solver for three-dimensional anisotropic elasticity BEM problems is developed. The technique is based on the use of hierarchical matrices for the representation of the collocation matrix and uses a preconditioned GMRES for the solution of the algebraic system of equations. The preconditioner is built exploiting the hierarchical arithmetic and taking full advantage of the hierarchical format. The application of hierarchical matrices to the BEM solution of anisotropic elasticity problems has been numerically demonstrated highlighting both accuracy and efficiency leading to almost linear computational complexity.

A continuum damage model for functionalized graphene membranes based on atomistic simulations

A continuum model for GO membranes is developed in this study. The model is built representing the membrane as a two-dimensional, heterogeneous, two-phase continuum and the constitutive behavior of each phase (graphitic or oxidized) is built based on DFTB simulations of representative patches. A hyper-elastic continuum model is employed for the graphene areas, while a continuum damage model is more adequate for representing the behavior of oxidized regions. A finite element implementation for GO membranes subjected to degradation and failure is then implemented and, to avoid localization instabilities and spurious mesh sensitivity, a simple crack band model is adopted. The developed impleme…

A Computational Study on Crack Propagation in Bio-Inspired Lattices

A computational preliminary study on the fracture behaviour of two kinds of finite-size bio-inspired lattice configurations is presented. The study draws inspiration from recent investigations aimed at increasing the fracture energy of some materials through small modifications of their microstructure. Nature provides several examples of strategies used to delay or arrest damage initiation and crack propagation. Striking examples are provided by the micro-architecture of several kinds of wood. In this study, the effects on crack propagations induced by architectural alterations inspired by the microstructure of wood are computationally investigated. In an age in which tight control of the m…

An investigation into the fracture behaviour of honeycombs with density gradients

International audience; In this study we perform an experimental and computational investigation about the fracture behaviour of polymer honeycombs presenting gradients in terms of lattice density. Such lattice relative density variations are introduced with the aim of mimicking the micro-morphology encountered in some natural materials, such as several kinds of woods, which seems related to the ability of the corresponding macro-material to delay the propagation of fracture under certain conditions. Starting from the conclusions of previous computational analyses, we perform a few experimental tensile tests on ABS model honeycombs obtained by additive manufacturing, with the aim of getting…

A novel micro-mechanical model for polycrystalline inter-granular and trans-granular fracture

In this work, a novel grain boundary formulation for inter-and trans-granular cracking of polycrystalline materials is presented. The formulation is based on the use of boundary integral equations for anisotropic solids and has the advantage of expressing the considered problem in terms of grain boundary variables only. Inter-granular cracking occurs at the grain boundaries whereas trans-granular cracking is assumed to take place along specific cleavage planes, whose orientation depends on the crystallographic orientation of the grains. The evolution of inter-and trans-granular cracks is then governed by suitably defined cohesive laws, whose parameters characterize the behavior of the two f…

Dual Boundary Element Method for fatigue crack growth: implementation of the Richard’s criterion

A new criterion for fatigue crack growth, whose accuracy was previously tested in the literature with the Finite Element Method, is here adopted with a Dual Boundary Element formulation. The fatigue crack growth of an elliptical inclined crack, embedded in a three dimensional cylindrical bar, is analyzed. In this way in addition to the propagation angle estimated by the Sih’s criterion, it is possible to take into account a twist propagation angle. The two propagation criteria are compared in terms of shape of the propagated crack and in terms of SIFs along the crack front. The efficiency of the Dual Boundary Element Method in this study is highlighted.

An enhanced grain-boundary framework for computational homogenization and micro-cracking simulations of polycrystalline materials

An enhanced three-dimensional (3D) framework for computational homogenization and intergranular cracking of polycrystalline materials is presented. The framework is aimed at reducing the computational cost of polycrystalline micro simulations, with an aim towards effective multiscale modelling. The scheme is based on a recently developed Voronoi cohesive-frictional grain-boundary formulation. A regularization scheme is used to avoid excessive mesh refinements often induced by the presence of small edges and surfaces in mathematically exact 3D Voronoi morphologies. For homogenization purposes, periodic boundary conditions are enforced on non-prismatic periodic micro representative volume ele…

A fast dual boundary element method for 3D anisotropic crack problems

In the present paper a fast solver for dual boundary element analysis of 3D anisotropic crack problems is formulated, implemented and tested. The fast solver is based on the use of hierarchical matrices for the representation of the collocation matrix. The admissible low rank blocks are computed by adaptive cross approximation (ACA). The performance of ACA against the accuracy of the adopted computational scheme for the evaluation of the anisotropic kernels is investigated, focusing on the balance between the kernel representation accuracy and the accuracy required for ACA. The system solution is computed by a preconditioned GMRES and the preconditioner is built exploiting the hierarchical …

A grain-scale model for high-cycle fatigue degradation in polycrystalline materials

Abstract A grain-scale three-dimensional model for the analysis of fatigue intergranular degradation in polycrystalline materials is presented. The material microstructure is explicitly represented through Voronoi tessellations, of either convex or non-convex domains, and the mechanics of individual grains is modelled using a boundary integral formulation. The intergranular interfaces degrade under the action of cyclic loads and their behaviour is represented employing a cohesive zone model embodying a local irreversible damage parameter that evolves according to high-cycle continuum damage laws. The model is based on the use of a damage decomposition into static and cyclic contributions, a…

Fracture of Honeycombs Produced by Additive Manufacturing

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 World Scientific Publishing Europe Ltd. Lattice materials, such as honeycombs, are remarkable in their ability to combine high stiffness, strength and toughness at low density. In addition, the recent and pervasive development of additive manufacturing technologies makes it easier to produce these cellular materials and opens new possibilities to improve their properties by implementing small modifications to their microstructure. Such developments open new opportunities towards the design of new classes of architectured materials. For example, recent computational studies have shown that honeycombs with lattice density gradients have a fracture energy under tens…

Polycrystalline materials with pores: effective properties through a boundary element homogenization scheme

In this study, the influence of porosity on the elastic effective properties of polycrystalline materials is investigated using a formulation built on a boundary integral representation of the elastic problem for the grains, which are modeled as 3D linearly elastic orthotropic domains with arbitrary spatial orientation. The artificial polycrystalline morphology is represented using 3D Voronoi tessellations. The formulation is expressed in terms of intergranular fields, namely displacements and tractions that play an important role in polycrystalline micromechanics. The continuity of the aggregate is enforced through suitable intergranular conditions. The effective material properties are ob…

On the accuracy of the fast hierarchical DBEM for the analysis of static and dynamic crack problems

In this paper the main features of a fast dual boundary element method based on the use of hierarchical matrices and iterative solvers are described and its effectiveness for fracture mechanics problems, both in the static and dynamic case, is demonstrated. The fast solver is built by representing the collocation matrix in hierarchical format and by using a preconditioned GMRES for the solution of the algebraic system. The preconditioner is computed in hierarchical format by LU decomposition of a coarse hierarchical representation of the collocation matrix. The method is applied to elastostatic problems and to elastodynamic cases represented in the Laplace transform domain. The application …

Engineering requirements for avionics of unmanned aerial system

Within the framework of the European Project WInSiC4AP, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) use case plays an important role in defining some of the specific constraints that on-board electronics systems must obey. Then it’s relevant to have clear view of the UAVs classification and their main characteristics especially with the focus of an Electrical UAV. Main component of the power supply are batteries, whose requirements must fulfil the tight design constraint such as lightweight, safety, pressure and temperature tolerance, cost effectiveness and cycle life. A quick look to available chemistry technology as well as market overview has been described. Regarding the power sub-system, the key…

A discontinuous Galerkin formulation for variable angle tow composite plates higher-order theories

A discontinuous Galerkin formulation for the mechanical behaviour of Variable Angle Tow multi-layered composite plates is presented. The starting point of the formulation is the strong form of the governing equations, which are obtained by means of the Principle of Virtual Displacement, the Generalized Unified Formulation and the Equivalent Single Layer assumption for the mechanical behaviour of the whole assembly. To obtain the corresponding discontinuous Galerkin formulation, an auxiliary flux variable is introduced and the governing equations are rewritten as a first-order system of partial differential equations. To link neighbouring mesh elements, suitably defined numerical fluxes are …

A grain boundary formulation for crystal plasticity

Abstract A three-dimensional grain-boundary formulation for small strains crystal plasticity is presented for the first time. The method is developed and implemented for both single grains and polycrystalline aggregates and it is based on the use of a suitable set of boundary integral equations for modelling the individual grains, which are represented as anisotropic elasto-plastic domains. In the boundary integral framework, crystal plasticity is modelled resorting to an initial strains approach and specific aspects, related to the integration of strongly singular volume integrals in the anisotropic elasto-plastic grain-boundary equations, are discussed and suitably addressed for the first…

Fast Hierarchical Boundary Element Method for Large Scale 3-D Elastic Problems

This chapter reviews recent developments in the strategies for the fast solution of boundary element systems of equations for large scale 3D elastic problems. Both isotropic and anisotropic materials as well as cracked and uncracked solids are considered. The focus is on the combined use the hierarchical representation of the boundary element collocation matrix and iterative solution procedures. The hierarchical representation of the collocation matrix is built starting from the generation of the cluster and block trees that take into account the nature of the considered problem, i.e. the possible presence of a crack. Low rank blocks are generated through adaptive cross approximation (ACA) …

Coupled VEM–BEM Approach for Isotropic Damage Modelling in Composite Materials

Numerical prediction of composite damage behaviour at the microscopic level is still a challenging engineering issue for the analysis and design of modern materials. In this work, we document the application of a recently developed numerical technique based on the coupling between the virtual element method (VEM) and the boundary element method (BEM) within the framework of continuum damage mechanics (CDM) to model the in-plane damage evolution characteristics of composite materials. BEM is a widely adopted and efficient numerical technique that reduces the problem dimensionality due to its underlying formulation. It substantially simplifies the pre-processing stage and decreases the compu…

Formulation and validation of a reduced order model of 2D materials exhibiting a two-phase microstructure as applied to graphene oxide

Abstract Novel 2D materials, e.g., graphene oxide (GO), are attractive building blocks in the design of advanced materials due to their reactive chemistry, which can enhance interfacial interactions while providing good in-plane mechanical properties. Recent studies have hypothesized that the randomly distributed two-phase microstructure of GO, which arises due to its oxidized chemistry, leads to differences in nano- vs meso‑scale mechanical responses. However, this effect has not been carefully studied using molecular dynamics due to computational limitations. Herein, a continuum mechanics model, formulated based on density functional based tight binding (DFTB) constitutive results for GO …

Fundamental solutions for general anisotropic multi-field materials based on spherical harmonics expansions

Abstract A unified method to evaluate the fundamental solutions for generally anisotropic multi-field materials is presented. Based on the relation between the Rayleigh expansion and the three-dimensional Fourier representation of a homogenous partial differential operator, the proposed technique allows to obtain the fundamental solutions and their derivatives up to the desired order as convergent series of spherical harmonics. For a given material, the coefficients of the series are computed only once, and the derivatives of the fundamental solutions are obtained without any term-by-term differentiation, making the proposed approach attractive for boundary integral formulations and efficie…

A Cohesive-frictional Grain-boundary Technique for Microstructural Analysis of Polycrystalline Materials

The development of a 3D microstructural model for the analysis of degradation and failure in polycrystalline materials is reviewed in the present chapter. The material is explicitly modelled at the grain level, using integral equations in conjunction with a phenomenological crystal plasticity framework for the bulk grains, and with cohesive-frictional laws to represent inter-granular micro-cracking processes. The method allows to capture the initiation, development and coalescence of damage or plasticity at the aggregate scale. The formulation’s key feature is the representation of the mechanical problem in terms of inter-granular variables only, which allows to reduce the computational cos…

Nonlinear free vibrations analysis of cracked composite stiffened plates via X-Ritz approach

Thin and moderately thick composite multi-layered plates are widely employed in naval and aerospace structures. They can experience the presence of cracks, generated for example by corrosion, fatigue or accidental external causes, which aect their static and dynamic behaviour. As regard the dynamic characteristics of plates, many studies have focused on the linear vibration analysis of both isotropic and composite thin and thick plates, providing for a comprehensive knowledge of the plate dynamic behaviour. However, for an accurate appraisal of the plate dynamics, in some applications it is needed to investigate the nonlinear free vibration problem; a literature survey evidences that the la…

A Model for Low-Cycle Fatigue in Micro-Structured Materials

A microscale formulation for low-cycle fatigue degradation in heterogeneous materials is presented. The interface traction-separation law is modelled by a cohesive zone model for low-cycle fatigue analysis, which is developed in a consistent thermodynamic framework of elastic-plastic-damage mechanics with internal variables. A specific fatigue activation condition allows to model the material degradation related to the elastic-plastic cyclic loading conditions, with tractions levels lower than the static failure condition. A moving endurance surface, in the classic framework of kinematic hardening, enables a pure elastic behaviour without any fatigue degradation for low levels of cyclic tra…

Orthotropic plate dynamics by a novel meshfree method

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with a novel meshfree method for the dynamic analysis of orthotropic plates under the Kirchhoff small deflection theory. The approach starts from a modified function whose stationarity conditions lead to the meshfree plate dynamic model through a discretization process—based on the use of orthotropic plate static fundamental solutions. The resolving system obtained is characterized by—frequency independent stiffness and mass matrices, which preserve the symmetry and definiteness properties of the continuum. Moreover, these operators are computed by boundary integrals of regular kernels. The method allows the application of standard numerical routines ava…

A non-linear Ritz method for progressive failure analysis of variable angle tow composite laminates

A Ritz formulation for non-linear analysis of damage initiation and evolution in variable angle tow composite plates under progressive loading is presented. The model is built on a few key items. It assumes first order shear deformation theory kinematics and non-liner strains in the von Karman sense. The constitutive relationships are formulated in the framework of continuum damage mechanics at the ply level, so that each laminate layer can experience in-plane damage initiation and evolution, then reflected in material softening and loss of local stiffness. A Ritz polynomial expansion of the primary variables and the minimization of the total potential energy provide the discrete solution e…

Modelling stress-corrosion microcracking in polycrystalline materials by the Boundary Element Method

The boundary element method is employed in this study in conjunction with the finite element method to build a multi-physics hybrid numerical model for the computational study of stress corrosion cracking related to hydrogen diffusion in polycrystalline microstructures. More specifically a boundary integral representation is used to represent the micro-mechanics of the aggregate while an explicit finite element method is used to model inter-granular hydrogen diffusion. The inter-granular interaction between contiguous grains is represented through cohesive laws, whose physical parameters depend on the concentration of inter-granular hydrogen, diffusing along the interfaces according to the …

A fast hierarchical dual boundary element method for three-dimensional elastodynamic crack problems

In this work a fast solver for large-scale three-dimensional elastodynamic crack problems is presented, implemented, and tested. The dual boundary element method in the Laplace transform domain is used for the accurate dynamic analysis of cracked bodies. The fast solution procedure is based on the use of hierarchical matrices for the representation of the collocation matrix for each computed value of the Laplace parameter. An ACA (adaptive cross approximation) algorithm is used for the population of the low rank blocks and its performance at varying Laplace parameters is investigated. A preconditioned GMRES is used for the solution of the resulting algebraic system of equations. The precond…

Multiscale modeling of polycrystalline materials: A boundary element approach to material degradation and fracture

Abstract In this work, a two-scale approach to degradation and failure in polycrystalline materials is proposed. The formulation involves the engineering component level (macro-scale) and the material grain level (micro-scale). The macro-continuum is modeled using a three-dimensional boundary element formulation in which the presence of damage is formulated through an initial stress approach to account for the local softening in the neighborhood of points experiencing degradation at the micro-scale. The microscopic degradation is explicitly modeled by associating Representative Volume Elements (RVEs) to relevant points of the macro continuum, for representing the polycrystalline microstruct…

Hierarchical-ACA DBEM for anisotropic three-dimensional time-domain fracture mechanics

Micro-cracking of brittle polycrystalline materials with initial damage

In this paper, the effect of pre-existing damage on brittle micro-cracking of polycrystalline materials is explored. The behaviour of single and multiple cracks randomly distributed within a grain scale polycrystalline aggregate is investigated using a recently developed grain boundary 3D computational framework. Each grain is modelled as a single crystal anisotropic domain. Opening, sliding and/or contact at grain boundaries are modelled using nonlinear cohesive-frictional laws. The polycrystalline micro-morphologies are generated using Voronoi tessellation algorithms in combination with a regularisation scheme to avoid the presence of unnecessary small geometrical entities (edges and face…

Dynamic Analysis of Piezoelectric Structures by the Displacement Boundary Method

Advanced models for nonlocal magneto-electro-elastic multilayered plates based on Reissner mixed variational theorem

In the present work, nonlocal layer-wise models for the analysis of magneto-electro-elastic multilayered plates are formulated. An Eringen non-local continuum behaviour is assumed for the layers material; in particular, as usual in plate theories, partial in-plane nonlocality is assumed whereas local constitutive behaviour is considered in the thickness direction. The proposed plate theories are obtained via the Reissner Mixed Variational Theorem, assuming the generalized displacements and generalized out-of-plane stresses as primary variables, and expressing them as through-the-thickness expansions of suitably selected functions, considering the expansion order as a free parameter. In the …

Elucidating the Effect of Bimodal Grain Size Distribution on Plasticity and Fracture Behavior of Polycrystalline Materials

The refinement of grains in a polycrystalline material leads to an increase in strength but as a counterpart to a decrease in elongation to fracture. Different routes are proposed in the literature to try to overpass this strength-ductility dilemma, based on the combination of grains with highly contrasted sizes. In the simplest concept, coarse grains are used to provide relaxation locations for the highly stressed fine grains. In this work, a model bimodal polycrystalline system with a single coarse grain embedded in a matrix of fine grains is considered. Numerical full-field micro-mechanical analyses are performed to characterize the impact of this coarse grain on the stress-strain const…

A fast hierarchical dual boundary element method for three-dimensional elastodynamic crack problems

In this work a fast solver for large-scale three-dimensional elastodynamic crack problems is presented, implemented, and tested. The dual boundary element method in the Laplace transform domain is used for the accurate dynamic analysis of cracked bodies. The fast solution procedure is based on the use of hierarchical matrices for the representation of the collocation matrix for each computed value of the Laplace parameter. An ACA (adaptive cross approximation) algorithm is used for the population of the low rank blocks and its performance at varying Laplace parameters is investigated. A preconditioned GMRES is used for the solution of the resulting algebraic system of equations. The precond…

COMPUTATIONAL HOMOGENIZATION OF POLYCRYSTALLINE MATERIALS WITH PORES: A THREE-DIMENSIONAL GRAIN BOUNDARY FORMULATION

In this study, the influence of porosity on the elastic effective properties of polycrystalline materials is investigated using a 3D grain boundary micro mechanical model. The volume fraction of pores, their size and distribution can be varied to better simulate the response of real porous materials. The formulation is built on a boundary integral representation of the elastic problem for the grains, which are modeled as 3D linearly elastic orthotropic domains with arbitrary spatial orientation. The artificial polycrystalline morphology is represented using 3D Voronoi Tessellations. The formulation is expressed in terms of intergranular fields, namely displacements and tractions that play …

A Grain-Scale Model of Inter-Granular Stress Corrosion Cracking in Polycrystals

In this contribution, we propose a cohesive grain-boundary model for hydrogen-assisted inter-granular stress corrosion cracking at the grain-scale in 3D polycrystalline aggregates. The inter-granular strength is degraded by the presence of hydrogen and this is accounted for by employing traction-separation laws directly depending on hydrogen concentration, whose diffusion is represented at this stage through simplified phenomenological relationships. The main feature of the model is that all the relevant mechanical fields are represented in terms of grain-boundary variables only, which couples particularly well with the employment of traction-separation laws.

A Microstructural Model for Micro-Cracking in Piezoceramics

Piezoelectric ceramics are employed in several applications for their capability to couple mechanical and electrical fields, which can be advantageously exploited for the implementation of smart functionalities. The electromechanical coupling, which can be employed for fast accurate micro-positioning devices, makes such materials suitable for application in micro electromechanical systems (MEMS). However, due to their brittleness, piezoceramics can develop damage leading to initiation of micro-cracks, affecting the performance of the material in general and the micro-devices in particular. For such reasons, the development of accurate and robust numerical tools is an important asset for the…

Brittle failure in polycrystalline RVEs by a grain-scale cohesive boundary element formulation

Polycrystalline materials are commonly employed in engineering structures. For modern applica- tions a deep understanding of materials degradation is of crucial relevance. It is nowadays widely recognized that the macroscopic material properties depend on the microstructure. The polycrystalline microstructure is characterized by the features of the grains and by the phys- ical and chemical properties of the intergranular interfaces, that have a direct influence on the evolution of the microstructural damage. The experimental investigation of failure mechanisms in 3D polycrystals still remains a challenging task. A viable alternative, or complement, to the experiments is Computational Microm…

Advanced models for smart multilayered plates based on Reissner Mixed Variational Theorem

In the present work, families of equivalent singe layer and layer-wise models for the static and free vibrations analysis of magneto-electro-elastic multilayered plates are developed. The models are defined in the framework of a unified formulation, which offers a systematic approach for generating refined plate theories through suitable expansions of the through-the-thickness components of the relevant fields, considering the expansion order as a free parameter. The key features of the developed formulation are: a) the condensation of the electric and magnetic description into the mechanical representation, based on the quasi-static electric-magnetic approximation, which allows to reduce t…

A three-dimensional cohesive-frictional grain-boundary micromechanical model for intergranular degradation and failure in polycrystalline materials

Abstract In this study, a novel three-dimensional micro-mechanical crystal-level model for the analysis of intergranular degradation and failure in polycrystalline materials is presented. The polycrystalline microstructures are generated as Voronoi tessellations, that are able to retain the main statistical features of polycrystalline aggregates. The formulation is based on a grain-boundary integral representation of the elastic problem for the aggregate crystals, that are modeled as three-dimensional anisotropic elastic domains with random orientation in the three-dimensional space. The boundary integral representation involves only intergranular variables, namely interface displacement di…

Hierarchical fast BEM for anisotropic time-harmonic 3-D elastodynamics

The paper presents a fast boundary element method for anisotropic time-harmonic 3-D elastodynamic problems. The approach uses the hierarchical matrices format and the ACA algorithm for the collocation matrix setup and a preconditioned GMRES solver for the solution. The development of this approach for the anisotropic case presents peculiar aspects which deserve investigation and are studied in the paper leading to the employed computational strategy and its effective tuning. Numerical experiments are presented to assess the method accuracy, performances and numerical complexity. The method ensures adequate accuracy allowing remarkable reductions in computation time and memory storage.

An extended Ritz formulation for buckling and post-buckling analysis of cracked multilayered plates

Abstract An extended Ritz formulation for the analysis of buckling and post-buckling behaviour of cracked composite multilayered plates is presented. The formulation is based on: (i) the First-order Shear Deformation Theory to model the mechanics of the multilayered plate; (ii) the von Karman’s theory to account for geometric non-linearities ; (iii) the use of an extended set of approximating functions able to model the presence of an embedded or edge crack and to capture the crack opening fields as well as the global behaviour within a single cracked domain. The numerical results of the buckling analyses and the equilibrium paths in the post-buckling regime are compared with the results fr…

A fast dual boundary element method for 3D anisotropic crack problems

In the present paper a fast solver for dual boundary element analysis of 3D anisotropic crack problems is formulated, implemented and tested. The fast solver is based on the use of hierarchical matrices for the representation of the collocation matrix. The admissible low rank blocks are computed by adaptive cross approximation (ACA). The performance of ACA against the accuracy of the adopted computational scheme for the evaluation of the anisotropic kernels is investigated, focusing on the balance between the kernel representation accuracy and the accuracy required for ACA. The system solution is computed by a preconditioned GMRES and the preconditioner is built exploiting the hierarchical …

Computational Homogenization of Heterogeneous Materials by a Novel Hybrid Numerical Scheme

The Virtual Element Method (VEM) is a recent numerical technique capable of dealing with very general polygonal and polyhedral mesh elements, including irregular or non-convex ones. Because of this feature, the VEM ensures noticeable simplification in the data preparation stage of the analysis, especially for problems whose analysis domain features complex geometries, as in the case of computational micro-mechanics problems. The Boundary Element Method (BEM) is a well known, extensively used and effective numerical technique for the solution of several classes of problems in science and engineering. Due to its underlying formulation, the BEM allows reducing the dimensionality of the proble…

Effects of voids and flaws on the mechanical properties and on intergranular damage and fracture for polycrystalline materials

It is widely recognized that the macroscopic material properties depend on the features of the microstructure. The understanding of the links between microscopic and macroscopic material properties, main topic of Micromechanics, is of relevant technological interest, as it may enable the deep understanding of the mechanisms governing materials degradation and failure. Polycrystalline materials are used in many engineering applications. Their microstructure is determined by distribution, size, morphology, anisotropy and orientation of the crystals. It worth noting that also the physical-chemical properties of the intergranular interfaces, as well as the presence of micro-imperfections within…

Ritz Model for Damage Analysis in Variable Angle Tow Composite Plates

In this work, a Ritz method is developed for progressive damage analysis of multilayered variable angle tow (VAT) composite plates under geometrically non-linear strains. The proposed model adopts a first order shear deformation theory and considers geometric non-linearities through the von Karman assumptions. A meso-modelling approach based on Continuum Damage Mechanics is adopted for analysing the initiation and evolution of damage. The onset of damage is predicted using the Hashin’s criteria. Four damage indices are defined and computed for expressing the degradation of the mechanical properties of the material, both for fibers and matrix under either tension and compression loading. A s…

Hierarchical adaptive cross approximation GMRES technique for solution of acoustic problems using the boundary element method

In this paper a new Rapid Acoustic Boundary Element Method (RABEM) is presented using a Hierarchical GMRES solver for 3D acoustic problems. The Adaptive Cross Approximation is used to generate both the system matrix and the right hand side vector. The ACA is also used to evaluate the potential and the particle velocity values at selected internal points. Two different GMRES solution strategies (without preconditioner and with a block diagonal preconditioner) are developed and tested for low and high frequency problems. Implementation of different boundary conditions (i.e. Dirichlet, Neumann and mixed Robin) is also described. The applications presented include the problem of noise acting on…

A novel boundary element formulation for anisotropic fracture mechanics

Abstract A novel boundary element formulation for two-dimensional fracture mechanics is presented in this work. The formulation is based on the derivation of a supplementary boundary integral equation to be used in combination with the classic displacement boundary integral equation to solve anisotropic fracture mechanics problems via a single-region approach. The formulation is built starting from the observation that the displacement field for an anisotropic domain can be represented as the superposition of a vector field, whose components satisfy a suitably defined anisotropic Laplace equation, and the gradient of the Airy stress function. The supplementary boundary integral equation is …

Microcracking in piezoelectric materials by the Boundary Element Method

A 3D boundary element model for piezoelectric polycrystalline micro-cracking is discussed in this contribution. The model is based on the boundary integral representation of the electro-mechanical behavior of individual grains and on the use of a generalized cohesive formulation for inter-granular micro-cracking. The boundary integral formulation allows to address the electro-mechanical boundary value problem in terms of generalized grain boundary and inter-granular displacements and tractions only, which implies the natural inclusion of the cohesive laws in the formulation, the simplification of the analysis pre-processing stage, and the reduction of the number of degrees of freedom of the…

A Microstructural Model for Micro-Cracking in Piezoceramics

Piezoelectric ceramics are employed in several applications for their capability to couple mechanical and electrical fields, which can be advantageously exploited for the implementation of smart functionalities. The electromechanical coupling, which can be employed for fast accurate micro-positioning devices, makes such materials suitable for application in micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). However, due to their brittleness, piezoceramics can develop damage leading to initiation of micro-cracks, affecting the performance of the material in general and the micro-devices in particular. For such reasons, the development of accurate and robust numerical tools is an important asset for th…

An implicit mesh discontinuous Galerkin formulation for higher-order plate theories

In this work, a discontinuous Galerkin formulation for higher-order plate theories is presented. The starting point of the formulation is the strong form of the governing equations, which are derived in the context of the Generalized Unified Formulation and the Equivalent Single Layer approach from the Principle of Virtual Displacements. To express the problem within the discontinuous Galerkin framework, an auxiliary flux variable is introduced and the governing equations are rewritten as a system of first-order partial differential equations, which are weakly stated over each mesh element. The link among neighboring mesh elements is then retrieved by introducing suitably defined numerical …

Modelling intergranular and transgranular micro-cracking in polycrystalline materials

Abstract In this work, a grain boundary formulation for intergranular and transgranular micro-cracking in three-dimensional polycrystalline aggregates is presented. The formulation is based on the displacement and stress boundary integral equations of solid mechanics and it has the advantage of expressing the polycrystalline problem in terms of grain boundary variables only. The individual grains within the polycrystalline morphology are modelled as generally anisotropic linear elastic domains with random spatial orientation. Transgranular micro-cracking is assumed to occur along specific cleavage planes, whose orientation in space within the grains depend upon the crystallographic lattice.…

A fast 3D dual boundary element method based on hierarchical matrices

AbstractIn this paper a fast solver for three-dimensional BEM and DBEM is developed. The technique is based on the use of hierarchical matrices for the representation of the collocation matrix and uses a preconditioned GMRES for the solution of the algebraic system of equations. The preconditioner is built exploiting the hierarchical arithmetic and taking full advantage of the hierarchical format. Special algorithms are developed to deal with crack problems within the context of DBEM. The structure of DBEM matrices has been efficiently exploited and it has been demonstrated that, since the cracks form only small parts of the whole structure, the use of hierarchical matrices can be particula…

A fast hierarchical BEM for 3-D anisotropic elastodynamics

A Boundary Element Formulation for Modelling Structural Health Monitoring Applications

In this paper, a boundary element formulation for modelling pitch-catch damage detection applications is introduced. The current formulation has been validated by both finite element analyses and physical experiments. Comparing to the widely used finite element method, the current formulation does not only use less computational resources, but also demonstrates higher numerical stability. doi: 10.12783/SHM2015/221

Hierarchical-ACA DBEM for Anisotropic Three-Dimensional Time-Harmonic Fracture Mechanics

A hierarchical BEM solver for the analysis of three-dimensional anisotropic time-harmonic fracture mechanics problems is presented. A thorough investigation on the relations and interactions between the numerically computed anisotropic fundamental solutions and the algorithm used to approximate the blocks of the hierarchical matrix, namely Adaptive Cross Approximation, is carried out leading to the employed computational strategy. The use of the hierarchical matrices and iterative solvers is proved as an effective technique for speeding up the solution procedure and reducing the required memory storage in time-harmonic three-dimensional anisotropic fracture mechanics problems.

Analysis of composite laminates with imperfect bonding conditions

A multidomain boundary integral formulation for the analysis of composite laminates with imperfect interlaminar interfaces is presented. An imperfect interface refers to a zero-thickness interfacial layer across which displacement discontinuity may occur while interlaminar tractions must remain continuous. The displacement discontinuity is considered through a spring model in order to model the adhesive layer among two adjacent laminae. No auxiliary elements are needed to implement the imperfect interface since the spring coefficients, characterizing the different bonding interface conditions, are taken into account inside the assembled influence matrices. To assess the reliability and the …

Multidomain BEM for crack analysis in stiffened anisotropic plates.

The present paper is concerned with the application of a boundary element model for the analysis of cracks in stiffened composite panels. The panel stiffeners are reduced to equivalent strips and the multidomain technique is used to model panel zones presenting different properties (skin and stiffeners equivalent strip). Also the crack is modeled exploiting the multidomain formulation. Evaluation of stress intensity factors is performed for representative problems.

A Novel Numerical Formulation for Crystal Plasticity

Crystal plasticity plays a crucial role in the mechanics of polycrystalline materials and it is commonly modeled within the framework of the crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM). In this work, an alternative formulation for small strains crystal plasticity is presented. The method is based on a boundary integral formulation for polycrystalline problems and plasticity is addressed using an initial strains approach. Voronoi-type micro-morphologies are considered in the polycrystalline case. A general grain-boundary incremental/iterative algorithm, embedding the flow and hardening rules for crystal plasticity, is developed. The key feature of the method is the expression of the mic…

Buckling and post-buckling analysis of cracked composite plates via a single-domain Ritz approach

Thin and moderately thick composite multi-layered plates are widely employed in many engineering applications, especially in naval and aerospace structures. These structural components can experience in service the presence of cracks, generated for example by corrosion, fatigue or accidental external causes. Cracks can affect the load carrying capability, buckling and post-buckling behaviour of plates; therefore, their effects need to be investigated and taken into account for fail safe or damage tolerant design. Additionally, attention should be devoted to the interaction of cracks with buckling and post-buckling behaviour, as the energy release rate in post-buckling regimes can be adverse…

A framework for aeroelastic analysis employing higher-order structural and aerodynamic theories

Aeroelasticity is an essential tool for the analysis and design of structures whose operating conditions involve the interaction with aerodynamic loads, and it finds application in aerospace, mechanical and civil applications. Involving the analysis of generally complex interactions between fluids and structures, aeroelastic analyses tend to be computationally expensive, thus often resorting to suitable simplification either in the structural or aerodynamic modelling, so to reduce the computational burden. On the other hand, the employment of composite materials in several engineering sectors has given the designer an unprecedented freedom in terms of design choices. In structures subjected…

Boundary element method for magneto-electro-elastic laminates

A boundary integral formulation and its numerical implementation are presented for the analysis of magneto-electro-elastic media. The problem is formulated by using a suitable set of generalized variables. The governing boundary integral equation is obtained by generalizing the reciprocity theorem to the magneto-electro-elasticity. The fundamental solutions are calculated through a modified Lekhnitskii’s approach, reformulated in terms of generalized magneto-electroelastic displacements. To assess the reliability and effectiveness of the formulation, some numerical analyses have been carried out and the convergence of the method has been studied. The multidomain approach has been developed …

Hierarchical BEM for dynamic analysis of anisotropic 3-D cracked solids

An integral framework for computational thermo-elastic homogenization of polycrystalline materials

A grain scale framework for thermo-elastic analysis and computational homogenization of polycrystalline materials is proposed. The morphology of crystal aggregates is represented employing Voronoi tessellations, which retain the main statistical features of polycrystalline materials. The behaviour of the individual grains is modelled starting from an integral representation for anisotropic thermo-elasticity, which is numerically addressed through a dual reciprocity boundary element method. The integrity of the aggregate is enforced through suitable intergranular thermo-elastic continuity conditions. By virtue of the features of the underlying formulation, the polycrystalline thermo-elastic …

Rapid acoustic boundary element method for solution of 3D problems using hierarchical adaptive cross approximation GMRES approach

This paper presents a new solver for 3D acoustic problems called RABEM (Rapid Acoustic Boundary Element Method). The Adaptive Cross Approximation and a Hierarchical GMRES solver are used to generate both the system matrix and the right hand side vector by saving storage requirement, and to solve the system solution. The potential and the particle velocity values at selected internal points are evaluated using again the Adaptive Cross Approximation (ACA). A GMRES without preconditioner and with a block diagonal preconditioner are developed and tested for low and high frequency problems. Different boundary conditions (i.e. Dirichlet, Neumann and mixed Robin) are also implemented. Herein the p…

Grain-boundary modelling of hydrogen assisted intergranular stress corrosion cracking

Abstract A novel hybrid strategy for modelling intergranular hydrogen embrittlement in polycrystalline microstructures is proposed. The technique is based on a grain-boundary integral representation of the polycrystalline micro-mechanics, numerically solved by the boundary element method, coupled with an explicit finite element model of the intergranular hydrogen diffusion. The intergranular interaction between contiguous grains in the aggregate is modelled through extrinsic cohesive-frictional traction-separation laws, whose parameters depend on the concentration of intergranular hydrogen, which diffuses over the interface according to the Fick’s second law, inducing the weakening of the i…

Virtual Element Method: Micro-Mechanics Applications

In this contribution we present an application of the lowest order Virtual Element Method (VEM) to the problem of material computational homogenization. Material homogenization allows retrieving material properties through suitable volume averaging procedures, starting from a detailed representation of the micro-constituents of the considered material. The representation of such microstructure constitutes a remarkable effort in terms of data/mesh preparation, especially when there is not evident microstructural regularity. For such a reason, computational micromechanics may represent a challenging benchmark for showing the potential of VEM. In this contribution, polycrystalline materials ar…

Dual boundary element model of 3D piezoelectric smart structures

In this paper, the application of the dual boundary element method (DBEM) in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM) is explored. The model involves a 3D host structure, which is formulated by the DBEM in the Laplace domain, and 3D piezoelectric transducers, whose finite element model is derived from the electro-mechanical behaviour of piezoelectricity. The piezoelectric transducers and the host structure are coupled together via BEM variables. The practicability of this method in active sensing applications is demonstrated through comparisons with established FEM and parametric studies.

X-Ritz Solution for Nonlinear Free Vibrations of Plates with Embedded Cracks

The analysis of large amplitude vibrations of cracked plates is considered in this study. The problem is addressed via a Ritz approach based on the first-order shear deformation theory and von Karman’s geometric nonlinearity assumptions. The trial functions are built as series of regular orthogonal polynomial products supplemented with special functions able to represent the crack behaviour (which motivates why the method is dubbed as eXtended Ritz); boundary functions are used to guarantee the fulfillment of the kinematic boundary conditions along the plate edges. Convergence and accuracy are assessed to validate the approach and show its efficiency and potential. Original results are then…

A finite element formulation for large deflection of multilayered magneto-electro-elastic plates

An original finite element formulation for the analysis of large deflections in magneto-electro-elastic multilayered plates is presented. The formulation is based on an equivalent single-layer model in which first order shear deformation theory with von Karman strains and quasi-static behavior for the electric and magnetic fields are assumed. To obtain the plate model, the electro-magnetic state is firstly determined and condensed to the mechanical primary variables, namely the generalized displacements. In turn, this result is used to obtain laminate effective stiffness coefficients that allow to express the plate mechanical stress resultants in terms of the generalized displacements and a…

Layer-Wise Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Piezoelectric Laminates

In this work, a novel high-order formulation for multilayered piezoelectric plates based on the combination of variable-order interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin methods and general layer-wise plate theories is presented, implemented and tested. The key feature of the formulation is the possibility to tune the order of the basis functions in both the in-plane approximation and the through-the-thickness expansion of the primary variables, namely displacements and electric potential. The results obtained from the application to the considered test cases show accuracy and robustness, thus confirming the developed technique as a supplementary computational tool for the analysis and design o…

Inter-Element Crack Propagation with High-Order Stress Equilibrium Element

The present contribution proposes a formulation based on the use of hybrid equilibrium elements (HEEs), for the analysis of inter-element delamination and fracture propagation problems. HEEs are defined in terms of quadratic stress fields, which strongly verify both the homogeneous and inter-element equilibrium equations and they are employed with interfaces, initially exhibiting rigid behavior, embedded at the elements’ sides. The interface model is formulated in terms of the same degrees of freedom of the HEE, without any additional burden. The cohesive zone model (CZM) of the extrinsic interface is rigorously developed in the damage mechanics framework, with perfect adhesion at the pre-…

Boundary Element Crystal Plasticity Method

A three-dimensional (3D) boundary element method for small strains crystal plasticity is described. The method, developed for polycrystalline aggregates, makes use of a set of boundary integral equations for modeling the individual grains, which are represented as anisotropic elasto-plastic domains. Crystal plasticity is modeled using an initial strains boundary integral approach. The integration of strongly singular volume integrals in the anisotropic elasto-plastic grain-boundary equations are discussed. Voronoi-tessellation micro-morphologies are discretized using nonstructured boundary and volume meshes. A grain-boundary incremental/iterative algorithm, with rate-dependent flow and har…

Spherical harmonic expansion of fundamental solutions and their derivatives for homogenous elliptic operators

In this work, a unified scheme for computing the fundamental solutions of a three-dimensional homogeneous elliptic partial differential operator is presented. The scheme is based on the Rayleigh expansion and on the Fourier representation of a homogeneous function. The scheme has the advantage of expressing the fundamental solutions and their derivatives up to the desired order without any term-by-term differentiation. Moreover, the coefficients of the series need to be computed only once, thus making the presented scheme attractive for numerical implementation. The scheme is employed to compute the fundamental solution of isotropic elasticity showing that the spherical harmonics expansions…

Engineering the crack path in lattice cellular materials through bio-inspired micro-structural alterations

Abstract A computational study on the fracture behaviour of bio-inspired finite-size lattice configurations is performed in this work. The study draws inspiration from recent investigations aimed at increasing the fracture energy of some materials through small modifications of their microstructure. The main question here is whether it is possible, to some extent, to engineer the crack path in metallic cellular materials through such small micro-structural modifications and how to quantify the effect of alternative strategies. Nature provides several examples of strategies used to delay or arrest damage and crack propagation. One striking example is given by the micro-architecture of severa…

A fast hierarchical BEM for 3‐D anisotropic elastodynamics