Finite Element Simulations on Failure Behaviors of Granular Materials with Microstructures Using a Micromechanics-Based Cosserat Elastoplastic Model

This paper presents a micromechanics-based Cosserat continuum model for microstructured granular materials.By utilizing this model,the macroscopic constitutive parameters of granular materials with different microstructures are expressed as sums of microstructural information.The microstructures under consideration can be classified into three categories:a medium-dense microstructure,a dense microstructure consisting of one-sized particles,and a dense microstructure consisting of two-sized particles.Subsequently,the Cosserat elastoplastic model,along with its finite element formulation,is derived using the extended Drucker-Prager yield criteria.To investigate failure behaviors,numerical simulations of granular materials with different microstructures are conducted using the ABAQUS User Element(UEL)interface.It demonstrates the capacity of the proposed model to simulate the phenomena of strain-softening and strain localization.The study investigates the influence of microscopic parameters,including contact stiffness parameters and characteristic length,on the failure behaviors of granularmaterials withmicrostructures.Additionally,the study examines themesh independence of the presented model and establishes its relationship with the characteristic length.A comparison is made between finite element simulations and discrete element simulations for a medium-dense microstructure,revealing a good agreement in results during the elastic stage.Somemacroscopic parameters describing plasticity are shown to be partially related to microscopic factors such as confining pressure and size of the representative volume element.

A new elastoplastic model for bolt-grouted fractured rock

Complexities in mechanical behaviours of rock masses mainly stem from inherent discontinuities,which calls for advanced bolt-grouting techniques for stability enhancement.Understanding the mechanical properties of bolt-grouted fractured rock mass(BGFR)and developing accurate prediction methods are crucial to optimize the BGFR support strategies.This paper establishes a new elastoplastic(E-P)model based on the orthotropic and the Mohr-Coulomb(M-C)plastic-yielding criteria.The elastic parameters of the model were derived through a meso-mechanical analysis of composite materials mechanics(CMM).Laboratory BGFR specimens were prepared and uniaxial compression test and variable-angle shear test considering different bolt arrangements were carried out to obtain the mechanical parameters of the specimens.Results showed that the anisotropy of BGFR mainly depends on the relative volume content of each component material in a certain direction.Moreover,the mechanical parameters deduced from the theory of composite materials which consider the short fibre effect are shown to be in good agreement with those determined by laboratory experiments,and the variation rules maintained good consistency.Last,a case study of a real tunnel project is provided to highlight the effectiveness,validity and robustness of the developed E-P model in prediction of stresses and deformations.

Fourth-order phase-field modeling for brittle fracture in piezoelectric materials

Failure analyses of piezoelectric structures and devices are of engineering and scientific significance.In this paper,a fourth-order phase-field fracture model for piezoelectric solids is developed based on the Hamilton principle.Three typical electric boundary conditions are involved in the present model to characterize the fracture behaviors in various physical situations.A staggered algorithm is used to simulate the crack propagation.The polynomial splines over hierarchical T-meshes(PHT-splines)are adopted as the basis function,which owns the C1continuity.Systematic numerical simulations are performed to study the influence of the electric boundary conditions and the applied electric field on the fracture behaviors of piezoelectric materials.The electric boundary conditions may influence crack paths and fracture loads significantly.The present research may be helpful for the reliability evaluation of the piezoelectric structure in the future applications.

A novel elastoplastic model for Yunnan sandstone under poly-axial loading

The lack of understanding of plastic hardening(softening)laws,especially under anisotropic stress conditions,results in inappropriate geotechnical management.Most of the yielding envelopes do not consider the effect of intermediate principal stress and the influence of Lode's angle.In addition,the application of plastic flow rules regarding yielding surfaces compromises the softening of rock internal friction as well as the influence of Lode's angle on the plastic potential.Moreover,the ductility to brittleness transition in the intermediate principal stress direction still requires a theoretical foundation.In this study,based on poly-axial testing results of Yunnan sandstone,we adopted a failure criterion with the intermediate principal stress proposed by Menétrey and Willam.The proposed new failure envelope was applied to capture the plastic evolution of rock samples.A plastic hardening-softening model is constructed,based on the framework of the plastic theory.The softening envelope is modified to better present the stress drop and considers the deterioration of rock internal friction in the post-peak stage of poly-axial loading.The differential of plastic potential according to the principal stresses is also modified,considering the rotation of Lode's angle in the poly-axial loading tests.The model results were compared with laboratory testing results,which showed great consistency across 9 different loading tests(5 under triaxial stress and 4 under poly-axial stress with 22 stress-strain curves in total).The induced brittleness by the intermediate principal stress is also well captured by the proposed model.

Triaxial elastoplastic damage constitutive model of unreinforced clay brick masonry wall

Due to differences in the properties of composition materials and construction techniques,unreinforced masonry is characterized by low strength,anisotropy,nonuniformity,and low ductility.In order to accurately simulate the mechanical behavior of unreinforced brick masonry walls under static and dynamic loads,a new elastoplastic damage constitutive model was proposed and the corresponding subroutine was developed based on the concrete material constitutive model.In the proposed constitutive model,the Rankine strength theory and the Drucker-Prager strength theory were used to define the tensile and compressive yield surface function of materials,respectively.Moreover,the stress updating algorithm was modified to consider the tensile plastic permanent deformation of masonry materials.To verify the accuracy of the proposed constitutive model,numerical simulations of the brick masonry under monotonic and cyclic uniaxial tension and compression loads were carried out.Comparisons among the numerical and theoretical and experimental results show that the proposed model can properly reflect the masonry material mechanical properties.Furthermore,the numerical models of four pieces of masonry walls with different mortar strengths were established.Low cyclic loadings were applied and the results show that the proposed constitutive model can properly simulate the wall shear failure characteristics,and the force-displacement hysteretic curves obtained by numerical simulation are in good agreement with the tests.Overall,the proposed elastic-plastic damage constitutive model can simulate the nonlinear behavior of unreinforced brick masonry walls very well,and can be used to predict the structural response of masonry walls.

Calibration of an elastoplastic model of sand liquefaction using the swarm intelligence with a multi-objective function

According to post-seismic observations,spectacular examples of engineering failures can be ascribed to the occurrence of sand liquefaction,where a sandy soil stratum could undergo a transient loss of shear strength and even behave as a“liquid”.Therefore,correct simulation of liquefaction response has become a challenging issue in geotechnical engineering field.In advanced elastoplastic models of sand liquefaction,certain fitting parameters have a remarkable effect on the computed results.However,the identification of these parameters,based on the experimental data,is usually intractable and sometimes follows a subjective trial-and-error procedure.For this,this paper presented a novel calibration methodology based on an optimization algorithm(particle swarm optimization(PSO))for an advanced elastoplastic constitutive model.A multi-objective function was designed to adjust the global quality for both monotonic and cyclic triaxial simulations.To overcome computational problem probably appearing in simulation of the cyclic triaxial test,two interrupt mechanisms were designed to prevent the particles from wasting time in searching the unreasonable space of candidate solutions.The Dafalias model has been used as an example to demonstrate the main programme.With the calibrated parameters for the HN31 sand,the computed results were highly consistent with the laboratory experiments(including monotonic triaxial tests under different confining pressures and cyclic triaxial tests in two loading modes).Finally,an extension example is given for Ottawa sand F65,suggesting that the proposed platform is versatile and can be easily customized to meet different practical needs.

Recent research progress on the phase-field model of microstructural evolution during metal solidification

Solidification structure is a key aspect for understanding the mechanical performance of metal alloys,wherein composition and casting parameters considerably influence solidification and determine the unique microstructure of the alloys.By following the principle of free energy minimization,the phase-field method eliminates the need for tracking the solid/liquid phase interface and has greatly accelerated the research and development efforts geared toward optimizing metal solidification microstructures.The recent progress in the application of phasefield simulation to investigate the effect of alloy composition and casting process parameters on the solidification structure of metals is summarized in this review.The effects of several typical elements and process parameters,including carbon,boron,silicon,cooling rate,pulling speed,scanning speed,anisotropy,and gravity,on the solidification structure are discussed.The present work also addresses the future prospects of phase-field simulation and aims to facilitate the widespread applications of phase-field approaches in the simulation of microstructures during solidification.

Application and comparison of different elastoplastic constitutive models for springback simulation of aluminum sheet forming

Springback is considered to be one of the most important problems in aluminum sheet stamp forming, leading to deviation from the designed target shape and assembly defects. In this study, a springback simulation model based on the benchmark of a Jaguar Land Rover aluminum panel is established. We embed several elastoplastic constitutive models （ Barlat＇ s 89, Barlat＇ s YLD2000, Yoshida-Uemori （YU） ＋ Barlat＇ s 89, and YU ＋ Barlat＇ s YLD2000） in the finite element model,in order to discuss the influence of the constitutive model selection on springback prediction in aluminum sheet forming.

A new mixed-mode phase-field model for crack propagation of brittle rock

Study on crack propagation process of brittle rock is of most significance for cracking-arrest design and cracking-network optimization in rock engineering.Phase-field model(PFM)has advantages of simplicity and high convergence over the common numerical methods(e.g.finite element method,discrete element method,and particle manifold method)in dealing with three-dimensional and multicrack problems.However,current PFMs are mainly used to simulate mode-I(tensile)crack propagation but difficult to effectively simulate mode-II(shear)crack propagation.In this paper,a new mixed-mode PFM is established to simulate both mode-I and mode-II crack propagation of brittle rock by distinguishing the volumetric elastic strain energy and deviatoric elastic strain energy in the total elastic strain energy and considering the effect of compressive stress on mode-II crack propagation.Numerical solution method of the new mixed-mode PFM is proposed based on the staggered solution method with self-programmed subroutines UMAT and HETVAL of ABAQUS software.Three examples calculated using different PFMs as well as test results are presented for comparison.The results show that compared with the conventional PFM(which only simulates the tensile wing crack but not mode-II crack propagation)and the modified mixed-mode PFM(which has difficulty in simulating the shear anti-wing crack),the new mixed-mode PFM can successfully simulate the whole trajectories of mixed-mode crack propagation(including the tensile wing crack,shear secondary crack,and shear anti-wing crack)and mode-II crack propagation,which are close to the test results.It can be further extended to simulate multicrack propagation of anisotropic rock under multi-field coupling loads.

Multi-scale elastoplastic mechanical model and microstructure damage analysis of solid expandable tubular

We present an in-depth study of the failure phenomenon of solid expandable tubular (SET) due to large expansion ratio in open holes of deep and ultra-deep wells. By examining the post-expansion SET, lots of microcracks are found on the inner surface of SET. Their morphology and parameters such as length and depth are investigated by use of metallographic microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM). In addition, the Voronoi cell technique is adopted to characterize the multi-phase material microstructure of the SET. By using the anisotropic elastoplastic material constitutive model and macro/microscopic multi-dimensional cross-scale coupled boundary conditions, a sophisticated and multi-scale finite element model (FEM) of the SET is built successfully to simulate the material microstructure damage for different expansion ratios. The microcrack initiation and growth is simulated, and the structural integrity of the SET is discussed. It is concluded that this multi-scale finite element modeling method could effectively predict the elastoplastic deformation and the microscopic damage initiation and evolution of the SET. It is of great significance as a theoretical analysis tool to optimize the selection of appropriate tubular materials and it could be also used to substantially reduce costly failures of expandable tubulars in the field. This numerical analysis is not only beneficial for understanding the damage process of tubular materials but also effectively guides the engineering application of the SET technology.

Phase-Field Simulation of Sintering Process:A Review

Sintering,a well-established technique in powder metallurgy,plays a critical role in the processing of high melting point materials.A comprehensive understanding of structural changes during the sintering process is essential for effective product assessment.The phase-field method stands out for its unique ability to simulate these structural transformations.Despite its widespread application,there is a notable absence of literature reviews focused on its usage in sintering simulations.Therefore,this paper addresses this gap by reviewing the latest advancements in phase-field sintering models,covering approaches based on energy,grand potential,and entropy increase.The characteristics of various models are extensively discussed,with a specific emphasis on energy-based models incorporating considerations such as interface energy anisotropy,tensor-form diffusion mechanisms,and various forms of rigid particle motion during sintering.Furthermore,the paper offers a concise summary of phase-field sintering models that integrate with other physical fields,including stress/strain fields,viscous flow,temperature field,and external electric fields.In conclusion,the paper provides a succinct overview of the entire content and delineates potential avenues for future research.

An Elastoplastic Damage Constitutive Model for Concrete

An elastoplastic damage constitutive model to simulate nonlinear behavior of concrete is presented. Similar to traditional plastic theory, the irreversible deformation is modeled in effective stress space. In order to better describe different stiffness degradation mechanisms of concrete under tensile and compressive loading conditions, two damage variables, i.e., tension and compression are introduced, to quantitatively evaluate the degree of deterioration of concrete structure. The rate dependent behavior is taken into account, and this model is derived firmly in the framework of irreversible thermodynamics. Fully implicit backward-Euler algorithm is suggested to perform constitutive integration. Numerical results of the model accord well with the test results for specimens under uniaxial tension and compression, biaxial loading and triaxial loading. Failure processes of double-edge-notched （DEN） specimen are also simulated to further validate the proposed model.

Growth and inhibition of zinc anode dendrites in Zn-air batteries:Model and experiment

Zinc(Zn)-air batteries are widely used in secondary battery research owing to their high theoretical energy density,good electrochemical reversibility,stable discharge performance,and low cost of the anode active material Zn.However,the Zn anode also leads to many challenges,including dendrite growth,deformation,and hydrogen precipitation self-corrosion.In this context,Zn dendrite growth has a greater impact on the cycle lives.In this dissertation,a dendrite growth model for a Zn-air battery was established based on electrochemical phase field theory,and the effects of the charging time,anisotropy strength,and electrolyte temperature on the morphology and growth height of Zn dendrites were studied.A series of experiments was designed with different gradient influencing factors in subsequent experiments to verify the theoretical simulations,including elevated electrolyte temperatures,flowing electrolytes,and pulsed charging.The simulation results show that the growth of Zn dendrites is controlled mainly by diffusion and mass transfer processes,whereas the electrolyte temperature,flow rate,and interfacial energy anisotropy intensity are the main factors.The experimental results show that an optimal electrolyte temperature of 343.15 K,an optimal electrolyte flow rate of 40 ml·min^(-1),and an effective pulse charging mode.

Elastoplastic modeling of mechanical behavior of weak sandstone at different time scales

A unified constitutive model is proposed to describe the mechanical behavior of weak sandstone at different time scales.The instantaneous behavior of this material is characterized by the Drucker-Prager elastoplastic model,while the time-dependent deformation is described in terms of the microstructure evolution.This evolution is numerically simulated by progressive degradation of the elastic modulus and failure strength of the material.The proposed model is used to simulate the instantaneous triaxial compression and the multi-loading creep tests.Generally,good concordance is obtained between numerical simulations and experimental data.The proposed model is capable of describing the main features of these rocks,particularly irreversible deformations,pressure dependency,volumetric transition between compaction and dilatancy,and creep behavior.

FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF CONCRETE BASED ON TWO SURFACE ELASTOPLASTIC MODEL

This paper presents finite element formulas based on two Surface elastoplastic yielding model. The study also discusses the numerical procedures and develops the corresponding software. These formulas have provided accurate elastoplastic method for analysing concrete, rock and soil like materials.

Embankment deformation analyzed by elastoplastic damage model coupling consolidation theory

The deformation, of embankment has serious influences on neighboring structure and infrastructure. A trial embankment is reanalyzed by elastoplastic damage model coupling Blot＇ s consolidation theory. With the increase in time of loading, the damage accumulation becomes larger. Under the centre and toe of embankment, damage becomes serious. Under the centre of embankment, vertical damage values are bigger than horizontal ones. Under the toe of embankment, horizontal damage values are bigger than vertical ones.

Comparative analysis of isothermal and non-isothermal solidification of binary alloys using phase-field model

Based on the entropy function, a two-dimensional phase field model of binary alloys was established. Meanwhile, an explicit difference method with uniform grid was adopted to solve the phase field and solute field controlled equations. And the alternating direction implicit(ADI) algorithm for solving temperature field controlled equation was also employed to avoid the restriction of time step. Some characteristics of the Ni-Cu alloy were captured in the process of non-isothermal solidification, and the comparative analysis of the isothermal and the non-isothermal solidification was investigated. The simulation results indicate that the non-isothermal model is favorable to simulate the real solidification process of binary alloys, and when the thermal diffusivity decreases, the non-isothermal phase-field model is gradually consistent with the isothermal phase-field model.

Phase-field modeling of dendritic growth under forced flow based on adaptive finite element method

A mathematical model combined projection algorithm with phase-field method was applied. The adaptive finite element method was adopted to solve the model based on the non-uniform grid, and the behavior of dendritic growth was simulated from undercooled nickel melt under the forced flow. The simulation results show that the asymmetry behavior of the dendritic growth is caused by the forced flow. When the flow velocity is less than the critical value, the asymmetry of dendrite is little influenced by the forced flow. Once the flow velocity reaches or exceeds the critical value, the controlling factor of dendrite growth gradually changes from thermal diffusion to convection. With the increase of the flow velocity, the deflection angle towards upstream direction of the primary dendrite stem becomes larger. The effect of the dendrite growth on the flow field of the melt is apparent. With the increase of the dendrite size, the vortex is present in the downstream regions, and the vortex region is gradually enlarged. Dendrite tips appear to remelt. In addition, the adaptive finite element method can reduce CPU running time by one order of magnitude compared with uniform grid method, and the speed-up ratio is proportional to the size of computational domain.

Simulation of pre-precipitation in Ni_(75)Al_(14)Mo_(11) alloy by microscopic phase-field model

The early precipitation process of Ni（75）Al（14）Mo（11） alloy was simulated by microscopic phase-field model at different temperatures.The microstructure of the alloy,the precipitation time of Llo structure and occupation probability of the three kinds of atoms were investigated.It is indicated that the non-stoichiometric Ll0（Ⅰ/Ⅱ） phases are found in the precipitation process.With the temperature increasing,the appearance time of Ll0 is brought forward.The Ll0（Ⅱ） structure always precipitates earlier than the Ll0（Ⅰ） structure.Compared with lower temperature,higher temperature brings the formation time of Ll0 phase forward and makes Ll0 phase have a higher order degree.But lower temperature shortens the process time of the Ll0 phase to the Ll2 phase.Al and Mo atoms tend to occupy γ site,Ni atom tends to occupy a and β sites.At the same temperature,Al atom has stronger occupation ability than Mo atom in the same site.Ni,Al and Mo collectively form the composited Ll2 structure.

An improved elastoplastic model for rocks and application to cyclic loading and unloading triaxial compression tests

The recoverable strain of rock is completely classified as elastic strain in the conventional elastic-plastic theory,which often results in poor agreement between theoretical and experimental curves.This work proposes an improved elastoplastic model of rock materials considering the evolutions of crack deformation and elastic modulus to better characterize the nonlinear mechanical behavior of rock in the post-peak stage.In this model,the recoverable strain is assumed to be a combination of elastic and crack strain,and the constitutive relationship between crack strain and rock stress is deduced.Based on the proposed assumption,the evolutions of the mechanical parameters including strength parameters,elastic,plastic,and crack deformation parameters versus the plastic strain and confining stress were investigated.The developed elastoplastic model was validated by comparing the theoretical values with the results of the triaxial cyclic loading and unloading test.The theoretical calculation results show a good agreement with the laboratory test,which indicates that the improved elastoplastic model can effectively reflect the nonlinear mechanical behavior of the rock materials.The research results are expected to provide a valuable reference for further understanding the evolution of rock crack deformation.