Particle fracture in high-volume-fraction ceramic-reinforced metals: Governing parameters and implications for composite failure

Weibull parameters of angular alumina particles are determined from experimental tensile test data on high-ceramic-content metal matrix composites using a micromechanical model that accounts for internal damage in the form of particle cracking, the dominant damage mode in these composites. The fraction of broken particles is assessed from the drop of Young's modulus and particle fracture is assumed to be stress controlled. Two extreme load-sharing modes, namely a purely local and a global load-sharing mode, are considered to account for the load redistribution due to particle fracture. Consistent powder strength parameters can be thus “back-calculated” for particles that are embedded in different Al-Cu matrices. On the other hand, this calculation fails for pure Al matrix composites, which exhibit a much larger strain to failure than Al-Cu matrix composites. It is shown that for Al matrix composites, the role of plastic (composite) strain on particle fracture constitutes a second parameter governing particle damage. This finding is rationalized by particle-particle interactions in these tightly packed ceramic particle-reinforced composites, and by the increase of matrix stress heterogeneity that is brought with increasing plastic strain. Failure of the alloyed matrix composites is well described by the (lower bound) local load-sharing micromechanical model, which predicts a catastrophic failure due to an avalanche of damage. The same model predicts failure of pure aluminium matrix composites to occur at the onset of tensile instability, also in agreement with experimental results once the role of plastic strain on damage accumulation is accounted for.     

完全拉格朗日SPH在冲击问题中的改进和应用

光滑粒子流体动力学(smoothed particle hydrodynamics, SPH)在模拟固体大变形、破碎和裂纹扩展等问题中有天然的优势,但SPH固有的拉伸不稳定缺陷是SPH在计算固体力学领域进一步应用的一大障碍.完全拉格朗日SPH (total Lagrangian-SPH, TL-SPH)方法是一种有效的改善拉伸不稳定的措施,但其仍面临边界区域精度低、界面条件难以施加、损伤裂纹难以模拟等缺陷.因此,首先将可达到二阶精度的高阶SPH方法与TLSPH耦合,为了节省高阶方法的计算量,进一步简化粒子选取模式,提出TL-SFPM (TL-simplified finite particle method)方法;其次,将可提高界面精度的DFPM (discontinuous finite particle method)方法与TL-SPH结合,并提出一种基于黎曼解的界面接触算法,通过在不同材料粒子间建立黎曼模型求解不同材料间的相互作用,分别应用于流体-固体接触和固体-固体接触中;再者,为了捕捉固体受外载荷后的损伤程度及破坏模式,提出一种完全拉格朗日框架下的粒子损伤破坏模型;最后,通过...     

A modified SPH method to model the coalescence of colliding non-Newtonian liquid droplets

This paper develops a modified smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method to model the coalescence of colliding non-Newtonian liquid droplets. In the present SPH, a van der Waals (vdW) equation of state is particularly used to represent the gas-to-liquid phase transition similar to that of a real fluid. To remove the unphysical behavior of the particle clustering, also known as tensile instability, an optimized particle shifting technique is implemented in the simulations. To validate the numerical method, the formation of a Newtonian vdW droplet is first tested, and it clearly demonstrates that the tensile instability can be effectively removed. The method is then extended to simulate the head-on binary collision of vdW liquid droplets. Both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid flows are considered. The effect of Reynolds number on the coalescence process of droplets is analyzed. It is observed that the time up to the completion of the first oscillation period does not always increase as the Reynolds number increases. Results for the off-center binary collision of non-Newtonian vdW liquid droplets are lastly presented. All the results enrich the simulations of the droplet dynamics and deepen understandings of flow physics. Also, the present SPH is able to model the coalescence of colliding non-Newtonian liquid droplets without tensile instability.     

TENSILE STRENGTH FOR SPLITTING FAILURE OF BRITTLE PARTICLES WITH CONSIDERATION OF POISSON''''S RATIO

1. Introduction The core mechanism of comminution could be reduced to the breakage of individual particles that occurs through contact with other particles or with the grinding media, or with the solid walls of the mill (Potapov & Campbell, 1994). When a particle is subjected to a load, the nature of the stress field around and within the brittle particle, its material properties, and the size and distribution of micro-flaws within the particle govern the size and shape distribution of the fra…     

Crushing of particles in idealised granular assemblies

Four idealised assemblies of equally sized spherical particles are subjected to a range of macroscopic compressive principal stresses and the contact forces on individual particles are determined. For each set of contact forces the stress fields within individual particles are studied. A failure criterion for brittle materials is imposed and indicates that crushing (or rupture) occurs when the maximum contact force reaches a threshold particle strength value, irrespective of the presence and magnitude of other lesser contact forces acting on the particle and the material properties of the particle. Combining the crushing mechanism with an assembly instability mechanism enables failure surfaces to be drawn in the three-dimensional stress space. A simple spatial averaging technique has been applied to the failure surfaces to remove the effects of assembly anisotropies. Sections of the failure surfaces on π planes have similarities to those commonly used in sand modelling.     

Multiscale modeling of the damaged plastic behavior and failure of Al/SiCp composites

We studied the tensile behavior and damage of an aluminium X2080 reinforced with different volume fractions of silicon carbide particles. The main damage mechanism is particle failure. Regions of the matrix adjacent to broken particles are sites with high hydrostatic tension and hence the nucleation of cavities is expected. Using J integral and HRR modified solution it is possible to calculate the growth of these voids. Macroscopic failure is governed by a critical volume fraction of voids. The originality of this work lies in the modeling of the composite using a micromechanical approach.     

A block particle coupled model and its application to landslides

To simulate the progressive failure of slope, a block particle coupled model is introduced. Particle oriented cell mapping(POCM) algorithm is used to enhance the search efficiency, and particlepoint, particle-edge, particle-face contact detecting method is adopted to establish contact pair between particles and blocks precisely. Strain softening Mohr Coulomb model with tensile cutoff is adopted for blocks, and brittle Mohr Coulomb model is used for particles. The particle-block replacement approach is used to describe the fracture and fragmentation process of continuum media. Once the cohesion or tensile strength of one block reaches zero, the block will be deleted,and particles are generated at the same place with all information inherited from the deleted block. Some numerical cases related to landslides demonstrate the precision and rationality of the coupled model.     

Discrete element modeling of acoustic emission in rock fracture

The acoustic emission (AE) features in rock fracture are simulated numerically with discrete element model (DEM). The specimen is constructed by using spherical particles bonded via the parallel bond model. As a result of the heterogeneity in rock specimen, the failure criterion of bonded particle is coupled by the shear and tensile strengths, which follow a normal probability distribution. The Kaiser effect is simulated in the fracture process, for a cubic rock specimen under uniaxial compression with a constant rate. The AE number is estimated with breakages of bonded particles using a pair of parameters, in the temporal and spatial scale, respectively. It is found that the AE numbers and the elastic energy release curves coincide. The range for the Kaiser effect from the AE number and the elastic energy release are the same. Furthermore, the frequency-magnitude relation of the AE number shows that the value of B determined with DEM is consistent with the experimental data.     

基于持续同调的边坡土颗粒应力链失稳分析

采用颗粒离散元方法和持续同调理论,研究了内排土场堆叠至不同高度时的边坡稳定性。为便于研究,现采用一水平金属板向下施加压力,代替不同厚度土层的重力荷载,对边坡在竖向荷载作用下的失稳破坏过程进行了颗粒离散元模拟。研究了二维边坡土颗粒速度总矢量、边坡失稳破坏时滑移开裂面的角度以及边坡坡顶y方向的平均速度等宏观响应过程,并构建了自然堆积下边坡堆积体颗粒的法向力链无向网络模型。最后,用持续同调方法对边坡坡顶颗粒接触力链网络的拓扑特征进行分析,获得条码图,建立了岩体结构持续同调特征与失稳演化的关系。本文为研究边坡失稳拓扑识别提供了一种新方法,从而可以有效预测边坡的失稳破坏。     

Impact failure of granular materials – Non-equilibrium multiscale simulations and high-speed experiments

We present results of high-speed impact experiments on aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) and silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics and propose a mesoscopic way to model the fracture behavior of these brittle materials based on discrete particles. The two-dimensional model used here has only three adjustable parameters, but is able of reproducing many salient features of the investigated ceramics under compressive, tensile and shock impact load. We discuss our particle model in detail and then consider strain and shear load simulations. In particular, we model explicitly the macroscopic experimental set-up of the edge-on impact experiment and show that the experimentally observed crack patterns can in principle be explained by the random distribution of particle overlaps and the thereby generated differences in the local strength of the material.     

Void coalescence within periodic clusters of particles

The effect of particle clustering on void damage rates in a ductile material under triaxial loading conditions is examined using three-dimensional finite element analysis. An infinite material containing a regular distribution of clustered particles is modelled using a unit cell approach. Three discrete particles are introduced into each unit cell while a secondary population of small particles within the surrounding matrix is represented using the Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) constitutive equations. Deformation strain states characteristic of sheet metal forming are considered; that is, deep drawing, plane strain and biaxial stretching. Uniaxial tensile stress states with varying levels of superimposed hydrostatic tension are also examined.The orientation of a particle cluster with respect to the direction of major principal loading is shown to significantly influence failure strains. Coalescence of voids within a first-order particle cluster (consisting of three particles) is a stable event while collapse of inter-cluster ligaments leads to imminent material collapse through void-sheeting.     

Measurement of the shapes of foil bulge-test samples

Accurate measurements of important tensile properties of thin metal foils are often quite difficult to achieve in uniaxial tests because of sample-preparation difficulties and the tensile instability called necking. Consequently, hydraulic bulge tests have been introduced as a successful means of suppressing these problems through the use of a simplified specimen geometry and biaxial rather than uniaxial tensile-stress states. Considerable effort has been made by various investigators to relate such biaxial stress-strain and ductility data to uniaxial data, generally following the assumption that the bulge is shaped like a spherical cap. The present study evaluates this assumption for foils by measuring actual shapes with unprecedented accuracy and detail using the two-source holographic technique and a polynomial-spline computer analysis of the resulting interferograms. These measurements were made on nine specimens of 0.127-mm-thick annealed rolled copper foil which had been deformed into bulges of varying heights up to rupture. A comparison is made between the measured shapes and the spherical-cap shape generally assumed in the interpretation of bulge-test data. The spherical assumption gives results which are reasonably valid for the later stages of deformation. Indeed, the stress-strain curve obtained from bulge testing corresponds closely with the uniaxial tensile curves for this material. The strain at failure (i.e., elongation) was greater in the biaxial bulge test than in the uniaxial test but not nearly as great as the strain expected from a theoretical model proposed by Hill. However, all the specimens measured exhibited localized areas with larger radii of curvature. The presence of these “flats” may be associated with a mode of failure in the bulge test which corresponds to necking instability in the uniaxial test, and thereby account for the limited strain to failure.     

Particle flow study on strength and meso-mechanism of Brazilian splitting test for jointed rock mass

A discrete element method （DEM） called particle flow code （PFC2D） was used to construct a model for Brazilian disc splitting test in the present study. Based on the experimental results of intact Brazilian disc of rock-like material, a set of micro-parameters in PFC2D that reflected the macro-mechanical behavior of rock-like materials were obtained. And then PFC2D was used to simulate Brazilian splitting test for jointed rock mass specimens and specimen containing a central straight notch. The effect of joint angle and notch angle on the tensile strength and failure mode of jointed rock specimens was detailed analyzed. In order to reveal the meso-mechanical mechanism of crack coalescence, displacement trend lines were applied to analyze the displacement evolution during the crack initiation and propagation. The investigated conclusions can be described as follows. （1） The tensile strength of jointed rock mass disc specimen is dependent to the joint angle. As the joint angle increases, the tensile strength of jointed rock specimen takes on a nonlinear variance. （2） The tensile strength of jointed rock mass disc specimen containing a central straight notch distributes as a function of both joint angle and notch angle. （3） Three major failure modes, i.e., pure tensile failure, shear failure and mixed tension and shear failure mode are observed in jointed rock mass disc specimens under Brazilian test. （4） The notch angle roles on crack initiation and and joint angle play important propagation characteristics of jointed rock mass disc specimen containing a central straight notch under Brazilian test.     

固体介质中SPH方法的拉伸不稳定性问题研究进展

光滑粒子流体动力学法(smoothed particle hydrodynamics, SPH)是一种基于核估计的无网格Lagrange数值方法.它用粒子方程离散流体动力学的连续方程, 既可以处理有限元难于处理的大变形和严重扭曲问题, 又可以处理有限差分法不易处理的自由边界和材料界面的问题, 在固体力学中的冲击、爆炸和裂纹模拟中具有广阔的发展前景.但是, 该算法的拉伸不稳定性(tensile instability)问题是它在固体力学领域中应用的最大障碍.对SPH稳定性分析表明, 算法不稳定性的条件仅与应力状态和核函数的2阶导数有关.目前, 应力点法(stress points)、Lagrange核函数法、人工应力法(artificialstress)、修正光滑粒子法(corrective smoothed particle method, CSPM)和守恒光滑法(conservativesmoothing)以及其他一些方法成功地改善了SPH的拉伸不稳定性, 但是每一种方法都不能彻底解决SPH的拉伸不稳定性问题.本文介绍了SPH法的方程和Von Neumann稳定性分析的思想, 以及国内外在这几个方面的研究成果及其最新进展, 同时指出目前研究中存在的问题和研究的方向.      

Simulation of particles released near the wall in a turbulent boundary layer

A direct numerical simulation was used along with a Lagrangian particle tracking technique to study particle motion in a horizontal, spatially developing turbulent boundary layer along an upper-wall (with terminal velocity directed away from the wall). The objective of the research was to study particle diffusion, dispersion, reflection, and mean velocity in the context of two parametric studies: one investigated the effect of the drift parameter (the ratio of particle terminal velocity to fluid friction velocity) for a fixed and finite particle inertia, and the second varied the drift parameter and particle inertia by the same amount (i.e. for a constant Froude number). A range of drift parameters from 10⁻⁴ to 10⁰ were considered for both cases. The particles were injected into the simulation at a height of four wall units for several evenly distributed points across the span and a perfectly elastic wall collision was specified at one wall unit.Statistics collected along the particle trajectories demonstrated a transition in particle movement from one that is dominated by diffusion to one that is dominated by gravity. For small and intermediate sized particles (i.e. ones with outer Stokes numbers and drift parameters much less than unity) transverse diffusion away from the wall dominated particle motion. However, preferential concentration is seen near the wall for intermediate-sized particles due to inhomogeneous turbulence effects (turbophoresis), consistent with previous channel flow studies. Particle–wall collision statistics indicated that impact velocities tended to increase with increasing terminal velocity for small and moderate inertias, after which initial conditions become important. Finally, high relative velocity fluctuations (compared to terminal velocity) were found as particle inertia increased, and were well described with a quasi-one-dimensional fluctuation model.     

A moving particle semi‐implicit method for free surface flow: Improvement in inter‐particle force stabilization and consistency restoring

The moving particle semi‐implicit (MPS) method has been widely applied in free surface flows. However, the implementation of MPS remains limited because of compressive instability occurred when the particles are under compressive stress states. This study proposed an inter‐particle force stabilization and consistency restoring MPS (IFS‐CR‐MPS) method to overcome this numerical instability. For inter‐particle force stabilization, a hyperbolic‐shaped quintic kernel function is developed with a non‐negative and smooth second order derivative to satisfy the stability criterion under compressive stress state. Then, a contrastive study is conducted on the contradiction between the common understanding of the conventional MPS hyperbolic‐shaped kernel function and its performance. The result shows that the conventional MPS hyperbolic‐shaped kernel function can easily cause violent repulsive inter‐particle force and then lead to the compressive instability. Therefore, the first order derivative of the modified hyperbolic‐shaped quintic kernel function is recommended as the form of the contribution of the neighbor particles to achieve a more stable inter‐particle repulsive force. For consistency restoring, the Taylor series expansion and the hyperbolic‐shaped quintic kernel are combined to improve the accuracy of the viscosity and pressure calculation. The IFS‐CR‐MPS algorithm is subsequently verified by the inviscid hydrostatic pressure, jet impacting, and viscous droplet impacting problems. These results can be used for choosing kernel function and the contribution of neighbor particles in particle methods. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Micromechanical consideration of tensile crack behavior based on virtual internal bond in contrast to cohesive stress

A modified version of the virtual internal bond model (VIB) is presented. This involves the introduction of a R-bond restricting the relative rotation freedom of pairwise mass particle. Such a modification allows the VIB model to consider arbitrary values of the Poisson ratio. A linear elastic cohesive law considering both the R-bond and L-bond are assumed. The constitutive relationship is derived using the Cauchy–Born rules. The derived constitutive associates the bond stiffness with the Young’s modulus and Poisson ratio of materials. This gives the bond stiffness in terms of the Young’s modulus and Poisson ratio of materials.The modified VIB model is then used to analyze the tensile crack behavior. In contrast to the cohesive stress method, the deformation-governed concept will be used. The local materials failure is assumed to coincide with the reduction of the bond density due to the local deformation rather than by the local cohesive stress. A phenomenological relationship between the bond density and the deformation is established. The criterion which is applied to determined crack initiation and propagation is built into the constitutive model. As an example, the method is used to study the crack initiation and propagation behavior under tensile loading.     

Onset of Convection with Internal Heating in a Porous Medium Saturated by a Nanofluid

Linear stability analysis was applied to the onset of convection due to internal heating in a porous medium saturated by a nanofluid. A model in which the effects of thermophoresis and Brownian motion are taken into account is employed. We utilized more realistic boundary conditions than in the previous work on this subject; now the nanofluid particle fraction is allowed to adapt to the temperature profile induced by the internal heating, subject to the requirement that there is zero perturbation flux across a boundary. The results show that the presence of the nanofluid particles leads to increased instability of the system. We identified two combinations of dimensionless parameters that are the major controllers of convection instability in the layer.     

An approach to multi-body interactions in a continuum-atomistic context: Application to analysis of tension instability in carbon nanotubes

The tensile strength of single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) is examined using a continuum-atomistic (CA) approach. The strength is identified with the onset of the CNT instability in tension. The focus of this study is on the effects of multi-body atomic interactions. Multiscale simulations of nanostructures usually make use of two- and/or three-body interatomic potentials. The three-body potentials describe the changes of angles between the adjacent bonds – bond bending. We propose an alternative and simple way to approximately account for the multi-body interactions. We preserve the pair structure of the potentials and consider the multi-body interaction by splitting the changing bond length into two terms. The first term corresponds to the self-similar deformation of the lattice, which does not lead to bond bending. The second term corresponds to the distortional deformation of the lattice, which does lead to bond bending. Such a split of the bond length is accomplished by means of the spherical–deviatoric decomposition of the Green strain tensor. After the split, the continuum-atomistic potential can be written as a function of two bond lengths corresponding to the bond stretching and bending independently. We apply an example exponential continuum-atomistic potential with the split bond length to the study of tension instability of the armchair and zigzag CNTs. The results of the study are compared with those obtained by Zhang et al. (2004. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 52, 977–998) who studied tension instability of carbon nanotubes by using the Tersoff–Brenner three-body potential, and with recent experimental results on the tensile failure of single walled carbon nanotubes.