Crystal plasticity finite element modelling of low cycle fatigue in fcc metals

A new dislocation-based model for low cycle fatigue in fcc metals at a length scale smaller than the feature size of the dislocation structures is presented. It uses the crystal plasticity finite element method and dislocation densities as internal variables. Equations for the dipole distance distribution, for the double cross slip mechanism and a new dislocation multiplication law are introduced, which can predict the emergence of vein and channel structures starting from a randomly perturbed dislocation distribution. The characteristics of these structures in copper and aluminium, as well as the mechanical properties, are compared with experiments. Compared with existing density-based theories, the capability to reproduce dislocation patterning is a significant step forward.     

A homogenization theory of strain gradient single crystal plasticity and its finite element discretization

In this study, a homogenization theory based on the Gurtin strain gradient formulation and its finite element discretization are developed for investigating the size effects on macroscopic responses of periodic materials. To derive the homogenization equations consisting of the relation of macroscopic stress, the weak form of stress balance, and the weak form of microforce balance, the Y-periodicity is used as additional, as well as standard, boundary conditions at the boundary of a unit cell. Then, by applying a tangent modulus method, a set of finite element equations is obtained from the homogenization equations. The computational stability and efficiency of this finite element discretization are verified by analyzing a model composite. Furthermore, a model polycrystal is analyzed for investigating the grain size dependence of polycrystal plasticity. In this analysis, the micro-clamped, micro-free, and defect-free conditions are considered as the additional boundary conditions at grain boundaries, and their effects are discussed.     

Incorporation of twinning into a crystal plasticity finite element model: Evolution of lattice strains and texture in Zircaloy-2

A crystal plasticity finite element code is developed to model lattice strains and texture evolution of HCP crystals. The code is implemented to model elastic and plastic deformation considering slip and twinning based plastic deformation. The model accounts for twinning reorientation and growth. Twinning, as well as slip, is considered to follow a rate dependent formulation. The results of the simulations are compared to previously published in situ neutron diffraction data. Experimental results of the evolution of the texture and lattice strains under uniaxial tension/compression loading along the rolling, transverse, and normal direction of a piece of rolled Zircaloy-2 are compared with model predictions. The rate dependent formulation introduced is capable of correctly capturing the influence of slip and twinning deformation on lattice strains as well as texture evolution.     

Assessment of plastic heterogeneity in grain interaction models using crystal plasticity finite element method

Micromechanical models aimed at simulating deformation textures and resulting plastic anisotropy need to incorporate local plastic strain heterogeneities arising from grain interactions for better predictions. The ALAMEL model [Van Houtte, P., Li, S., Seefeldt, M., Delannay, L. 2005. Deformation texture prediction: from the Taylor model to the advanced Lamel model. Int. J. Plasticity 21, 589–624], is one of the models in which the heterogeneous nature of plastic deformation in metals is introduced by accounting for the influence of a grain boundary on the cooperative deformation of adjacent grains. This is achieved by assuming that neighbouring grains undergo heterogeneous shear rates parallel to the grain boundary. The present article focuses on understanding the plastic deformation fields near the grain boundaries and the influence of grain interaction on intra-grain deformations. Crystal Plasticity Finite Element Method (CPFEM) is employed on a periodic unit cell consisting of four grains discretised into a large number of elements. A refined study of the local variation of strain rates, both along and perpendicular to the grain boundaries permits an assessment of the assumptions made in the ALAMEL model. It is shown that the ALAMEL model imbibes the nature of plastic deformation at the grain boundaries very well. However, near triple junctions, the influence of a third grain induces severe oscillations of the stress tensor, reflecting a singularity. According to CPFEM, such singularity can lead to grain subdivision by the formation of new boundaries originating at the triple junction.     

A finite strain elastic-viscoplastic self-consistent model for polycrystalline materials

A large strain elastic-viscoplastic self-consistent (EVPSC) model for polycrystalline materials is developed. At single crystal level, both the rate sensitive slip and twinning are included as the plastic deformation mechanisms, while elastic anisotropy is accounted for in the elastic moduli. The transition from single crystal plasticity to polycrystal plasticity is based on a completely self-consistent approach. It is shown that the differences in the predicted stress-strain curves and texture evolutions based on the EVPSC and the viscoplastic self-consistent (VPSC) model proposed by Lebensohn and Tomé (1993) are negligible at large strains for monotonic loadings. For the deformations involving unloading and strain path changes, the EVPSC predicts a smooth elasto-plastic transition, while the VPSC model gives a discontinuous response due to lack of elastic deformation. It is also demonstrated that the EVPSC model can capture some important experimental features which cannot be simulated by using the VPSC model.     

Implicit finite element formulations for multi-phase transformation in high carbon steel

An anomalous plastic deformation observed during the phase transformation of steels was implemented into the finite element modeling. The constitutive equations for the transformation plasticity originally proposed by Greenwood and Johnson [Greenwood, G.W., Johnson, R.H., 1965. The deformation of metals under small stresses during phase transformation. Proc. Roy. Soc. A 283, 403] and further extended by Leblond et al. [Leblond, J.B., Mottet, G., Devaux, J.C., 1986a. A theoretical and numerical approach to the plastic behavior of steels during phase transformations, I. Derivation of general relations. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 34, 395–409; Leblond, J.B., Mottet, G., Devaux, J.C., 1986b. A theoretical and numerical approach to the plastic behavior of steels during phase transformations, II. Study of classical plasticity for ideal-plastic phases. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 34, 411–432; Leblond, J.B., Devaux, J., Devaux, J.C., 1989a. Mathematical modeling of transformation plasticity in steels, I: case of ideal-plastic phases. Int. J. Plasticity 5, 511–572; Leblond, J.B., 1989b. Mathematical modeling of transformation plasticity in steels, II: coupling with strain hardening phenomena. Int. J. Plasticity 5, 573–591] were modified to consider the thermo-mechanical response of generalized multi-phase steel during phase transformations from austenite at high temperature. An implicit numerical solution procedure to calculate the plastic deformation of each constituent phase was newly proposed and implemented into the general purpose implicit finite element program via user material subroutine. The new algorithms include efficient calculation of consistent tangent modulus for the transformation plasticity and application of general anisotropic yield functions without limitation to the isotropic yield function. Besides the thermo-elastic–plastic constitutive equations, non-isothermal transformation kinetics was characterized by the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov (JMAK) equation and additivity relationship for the diffusional transformation, while the model proposed by Koistinen and Marburger was used for the diffusionless transformation. Numerical verifications for the continuous cooling experiments under various loading conditions were conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the developed numerical algorithms to the high carbon steel SK5.     

Modeling texture evolution in equal channel angular extrusion using crystal plasticity finite element models

A new approach to modeling crystallographic texture evolution in Equal Channel Angular Extrusion (ECAE) is presented in this paper. The proposed approach utilizes an elastic–viscoplastic single crystal constitutive model implemented in a finite element framework. A representative volume element of the polycrystal is subjected to boundary conditions that simulate the approximate deformation history experienced by different regions of the sample (at different through-thickness depths) in both Route A and Route C processing. The proposed approach aims to capture the influence of the complex interactions that ensue among the constituent individual crystals of a polycrystal in controlling the texture evolution in the sample, while capturing the boundary conditions inherent to ECAE deformation. The predictions from the proposed approach are compared against previously reported experimental measurements in ECAE of copper. It is observed that the proposed approach provides significantly better agreement with the measurements when compared against previously reported model predictions.     

Dual variational formulation for Trefftz finite element method of elastic materials

A dual variational principle is presented for Trefftz finite element analysis. The proof of the stationary conditions of the variational functional and the theorem on the existence of extremum are provided in this paper. They are boundary displacement condition, surface traction condition and interelement continuity condition. Based on the assumed intraelement and frame fields, element stiffness matrix equation is obtained which can easily be implemented into computer programs for numerical analysis with Trefftz finite element method. Two numerical examples are considered to illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed element model.     

A stochastic model for the temporal aspects of flow intermittency in micropillar compression

Systematic experimental investigations have demonstrated that the plastic deformation of micropillar proceeds through a sequence of intermittent bursts, the sizes of which follow power-law statistics. In this study, a stochastic model based on the power-law distribution of burst size is formulated in the framework of crystal plasticity in order to investigate the temporal aspects of flow intermittency in micropillar compression. A Monte Carlo simulation scheme is developed to determine the burst size when a burst activity is captured. This burst size is considered as the displacement boundary condition of burst deformation. Three-dimensional finite element analysis of the model is performed and its predictions are validated by comparison with results from both micro-compression experiments and simulation tests of bulk crystals using the classic crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM). The model provides a reasonable prediction of stress–strain responses both at the macroscopic and microscopic scales. Finally, the capability of this model is shown with applications to the intermittent plastic deformation in micropillar compressions, in particular for their burst time durations and burst velocities. The results from such stochastic finite element analysis are shown to be consistent with earlier experimental findings and results of mean-field theory.     

Hahn-Tsai复合材料的非线性杂交应力有限元方法

成功建立了Hahn-Tsai复合材料模型的非线性杂交应力有限元方程,采用Newton-Raphson迭代法求解结构的非线性位移方程。在迭代过程中,为了提高计算效率可采用简单迭代法由节点位移求解单元应力场。但是,当载荷增加到一定程度以后,非线性应力场由于循环迭代而无法收敛,显然,一般的加速方法不能解决这种循环迭代的发散问题。因此,本文发展了一种确实有效的非线性应力场迭代新方法,在不增加计算工作量的情况下,不仅极大地提高了收敛速度,而且对于较大载荷也能够很好地收敛,从而解决了大载荷下非线性杂交元方法失败的关键问题。数值算例表明该方法是确实可行的。     

Integration of self-consistent polycrystal plasticity with dislocation density based hardening laws within an implicit finite element framework: Application to low-symmetry metals

We present an implementation of the viscoplastic self-consistent (VPSC) polycrystalline model in an implicit finite element (FE) framework, which accounts for a dislocation-based hardening law for multiple slip and twinning modes at the micro-scale grain level. The model is applied to simulate the macro-scale mechanical response of a highly anisotropic low-symmetry (orthorhombic) crystal structure. In this approach, a finite element integration point represents a polycrystalline material point and the meso-scale mechanical response is obtained by the mean-field VPSC homogenization scheme. We demonstrate the accuracy of the FE-VPSC model by analyzing the mechanical response and microstructure evolution of α-uranium samples under simple compression/tension and four-point bending tests. Predictions of the FE-VPSC simulations compare favorably with experimental measurements of geometrical changes and microstructure evolution. Specifically, the model captures accurately the tension–compression asymmetry of the material associated with twinning, as well as the rigidity of the material response along the hard-to-deform crystallographic orientations.     

A variational principle and finite element formulation for multi-physics PLZT ceramics

This research presents an extended variational principle and a finite element formulation for multi-physics analysis of PLZT (lanthanum zirconate titanate) ceramics by including the photovoltaic and optothermic effects. The photo-induced electrical and thermal, and mechanical fields, as well as the heat source effect due to light illumination are all considered in the formulation. A generalized variation approach for advanced multi-physics PLZT problems is developed and then the relevant finite element formulation is established.     

Finite element study for conical indentation of elastoplastic micropolar material

Numerous experiments have repetitively shown that the material behavior presents effective size dependent mechanical properties at scales of microns or submicrons. In this paper, the size dependent behavior of micropolar theory under conical indentation is studied for different indentation depths and micropolar material parameters. To illustrate the effectiveness of the micropolar theory in predicting the indentation size effect (ISE), an axisymmetric finite element model has been developed for elastoplastic contact analysis of the micropolar materials based on the parametric virtual principle. It is shown that the micropolar parameters contribute to describe the characteristic of ISE at different scales, where the material length scale regulates the rate of hardness change at large indentation depth and the value of micropolar shear module restrains the upper limit of hardness at low indentation depth. The simulation results showed that the indentation loads increase as the result of increased material length scale at any indentation depth, however, the rate of increase is higher for lower indentation depth, relative to conventional continuum. The numerical results are presented for perfectly sharp and rounded tip conical indentations of magnesium oxide and compared with the experimental data for hardness coming from the open literature. It is shown that the satisfactory agreement between the experimental data and the numerical results is obtained, and the better correlation is achieved for the rounded tip indentation compared to the sharp indentation.     

A perfectly matched layer for finite-element calculations of diffraction by metallic surface-relief gratings

We introduce a perfectly matched layer approach for finite element calculations of diffraction by metallic surface-relief gratings. We use a non-integrable absorbing function which allows us to use thin absorbing layers, which reduces the computational time when simulating this type of structure. In addition, we numerically determine the best choice of the absorbing layer parameters and show that they are independent of the wavelength.     

Effective non-reflective boundary for Lamb waves: Theory,finite element implementation,and applications

This article presents a new approach to designing non-reflective boundary (NRB) for inhibiting Lamb wave reflections at structural boundaries. Our NRB approach can be effectively and conveniently implemented in commercial finite element (FE) codes. The paper starts with a review of the state of the art: (a) the absorbing layers by increasing damping (ALID) approach; and (b) the Lysmer–Kuhlemeyer absorbing boundary conditions (LK ABC) approach is briefly presented and its inadequacy for Lamb wave applications is explained. Hence, we propose a modified Lysmer–Kuhlemeyer approach to be used in the NRB design for Lamb wave problems; we call our approach MLK NRB. The implementation of this MLK NRB was realized using the spring–damper elements which are available in most commercial FE codes. Optimized implementation parameters are developed in order to achieve the best performance for Lamb wave absorption. Our MLK NRB approach is compared with the state of the art ALID and LK ABC methods. Our MLK NRB shows better performance than ALID and LK ABC for all Lamb modes in the thin-plate structures considered in our examples. Our MLK NRB approach is also advantageous at low frequencies and at cut-off frequencies, where extremely long wavelengths exist. A comprehensive study with various design parameters and plate thicknesses which illustrates the advantages and limitations of our MLK NRB approach is presented. MLK NRB applications for both transient analysis in time domain and harmonic analysis in frequency domain are illustrated. The article finishes with conclusions and suggestions for future work.     

A micromechanical model of hardening, rate sensitivity and thermal softening in BCC single crystals

The present paper is concerned with the development of a micromechanical model of the hardening, rate-sensitivity and thermal softening of bcc crystals. In formulating the model, we specifically consider the following unit processes: double-kink formation and thermally activated motion of kinks; the close-range interactions between primary and forest dislocations, leading to the formation of jogs; the percolation motion of dislocations through a random array of forest dislocations introducing short-range obstacles of different strengths; dislocation multiplication due to breeding by double cross-slip; and dislocation pair annihilation. The model is found to capture salient features of the behavior of Ta crystals such as: the dependence of the initial yield point on temperature and strain rate; the presence of a marked stage I of easy glide, specially at low temperatures and high strain rates; the sharp onset of stage II hardening and its tendency to shift towards lower strains, and eventually disappear, as the temperature increases or the strain rate decreases; the parabolic stage II hardening at low strain rates or high temperatures; the stage II softening at high strain rates or low temperatures; the trend towards saturation at high strains; the temperature and strain-rate dependence of the saturation stress; and the orientation dependence of the hardening rate.     

An efficient three-dimensional semi-implicit finite element scheme for simulation of free surface flows

An efficient semi-implicit finite element model is proposed for the simulation of three-dimensional flows in stratified seas. The body of water is divided into a number of layers and the two horizontal momentum equations for each layer of water are first integrated vertically. Nine-node Lagrangian quadratic isoparametric elements are employed for spatial discretization in the horizontal domain. The time derivatives are approximated using a second-order-accurate semi-implicit time-stepping scheme. The distinguishing feature of the proposed numerical scheme is that only nodal values on the same vertical line are coupled. Two test cases for which analytic solutions are available are employed to test the proposed scheme. The test results show that the scheme is efficient and stable. A numerical experiment is also included to compare the proposed scheme with a finite difference scheme.     

Multifronts and transputer networks for solving fluid mechanical finite element systems

This paper is concerned with the implementation of a multifrontal solver on a network of transputers. We briefly discuss the transputer, outline the frontal and multifrontal schemes and consider the implementation of these schemes on the network. Results are presented for two test problems in fluid mechanics showing that the solver displays close to linear speed-up.