skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: A multiscale preconditioner for crack evolution in porous microstructures: Accelerating phase‐field methods
Abstract Phase‐field methods are attractive for simulating the mechanical failure of geometrically complex porous microstructures described by 2D/3D x‐ray CT images in subsurface (e.g., CO storage) and manufacturing (e.g., Li‐ion battery) applications. They capture the nucleation, growth, and branching of fractures without prior knowledge of the propagation path or having to remesh the domain. Their drawback lies in the high computational cost for the typical domain sizes encountered in practice. We present a multiscale preconditioner that significantly accelerates the convergence of Krylov solvers in computing solutions of linear(ized) systems arising from the sequential discretization of the momentum and crack‐evolution equations in phase‐field methods. The preconditioner is an algebraic reformulation of a recent pore‐level multiscale method (PLMM) by the authors and consists of a global preconditioner and a local smoother . Together, and attenuate low‐ and high‐frequency errors simultaneously. The proposed , used in the momentum equation only, is a simplification of a recent variant proposed by the authors that is much cheaper and easier to deploy in existing solvers. The smoother , used in both the momentum and crack‐evolution equations, is built such that it is compatible with and more robust and efficient than black‐box smoothers like ILU(). We test and systematically for static‐ and evolving‐crack problems on complex 2D/3D porous microstructures, and show that they outperform existing algebraic multigrid solvers. We also probe different strategies for updating as cracks evolve and show the associated cost can be minimized if is updated adaptively and infrequently. Both and are scalable on parallel machines and can be implemented non‐intrusively in existing codes.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2145222
PAR ID:
10492989
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
Date Published:
Journal Name:
International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering
Volume:
125
Issue:
11
ISSN:
0029-5981
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract Discretization of flow in fractured porous media commonly lead to large systems of linear equations that require dedicated solvers. In this work, we develop an efficient linear solver and its practical implementation for mixed‐dimensional scalar elliptic problems. We design an effective preconditioner based on approximate block factorization and algebraic multigrid techniques. Numerical results on benchmarks with complex fracture structures demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed linear solver and its robustness with respect to different physical and discretization parameters. 
    more » « less
  2. null (Ed.)
    In this paper, the authors propose a new dimension reduction method for level-set-based topology optimization of conforming thermal structures on free-form surfaces. Both the Hamilton-Jacobi equation and the Laplace equation, which are the two governing PDEs for boundary evolution and thermal conduction, are transformed from the 3D manifold to the 2D rectangular domain using conformal parameterization. The new method can significantly simplify the computation of topology optimization on a manifold without loss of accuracy. This is achieved due to the fact that the covariant derivatives on the manifold can be represented by the Euclidean gradient operators multiplied by a scalar with the conformal mapping. The original governing equations defined on the 3D manifold can now be properly modified and solved on a 2D domain. The objective function, constraint, and velocity field are also equivalently computed with the FEA on the 2D parameter domain with the properly modified form. In this sense, we are solving a 3D topology optimization problem equivalently on the 2D parameter domain. This reduction in dimension can greatly reduce the computing cost and complexity of the algorithm. The proposed concept is proved through two examples of heat conduction on manifolds. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract We present a novel preconditioning technique for Krylov subspace algorithms to solve fluid‐structure interaction (FSI) linearized systems arising from finite element discretizations. An outer Krylov subspace solver preconditioned with a geometric multigrid (GMG) algorithm is used, where for the multigrid level subsolvers, a field‐split (FS) preconditioner is proposed. The block structure of the FS preconditioner is derived using the physical variables as splitting strategy. To solve the subsystems originated by the FS preconditioning, an additive Schwarz (AS) block strategy is employed. The proposed FS preconditioner is tested on biomedical FSI applications. Both 2D and 3D simulations are carried out considering aneurysm and venous valve geometries. The performance of the FS preconditioner is compared with that of a second preconditioner of pure domain decomposition type. 
    more » « less
  4. In this manuscript, we present a multiscale Adaptive Reduced-Order Modeling (AROM) framework to efficiently simulate the response of heterogeneous composite microstructures under interfacial and volumetric damage. This framework builds on the eigendeformation-based reduced-order homogenization model (EHM), which is based on the transformation field analysis (TFA) and operates in the context of computational homogenization with a focus on model order reduction of the microscale problem. EHM pre-computes certain microstructure information by solving a series of linear elastic problems defined over the fully resolved microstructure (i.e., concentration tensors, interaction tensors) and approximates the microscale problem using a much smaller basis spanned over subdomains (also called parts) of the microstructure. Using this reduced basis, and prescribed spatial variation of inelastic response fields over the parts, the microscale problem leads to a set of algebraic equations with part-wise responses as unknowns, instead of node-wise displacements as in finite element analysis. The volumetric and interfacial influence functions are calculated by using the Interface enriched Generalized Finite Element Method (IGFEM) to compute the coefficient tensors, in which the finite element discretization does not need to conform to the material interfaces. AROM takes advantage of pre-computed coefficient tensors associated with the finest ROM and efficiently computes the coefficient tensors of a series of gradually coarsening ROMs. During the multiscale analysis stage, the simulation starts with a coarse ROM which can capture the initial elastic response well. As the loading continues and response in certain parts of the microstructure starts to localize, the analysis adaptively switches to the next level of refined ROM to better capture those local responses. The performance of AROM is evaluated by comparing the results with regular EHM (no adaptive refinement) and IGFEM under different loading conditions and failure modes for various 2D and 3D microstructures. The proposed AROM provides an efficient way to model history-dependent nonlinear responses for composite materials under localized interface failure and phase damage. 
    more » « less
  5. Abstract This paper develops a Bayesian inference-based probabilistic crack nucleation model for the Ni-based superalloy René 88DT under fatigue loading. A data-driven, machine learning approach is developed, identifying underlying mechanisms driving crack nucleation. An experimental set of fatigue-loaded microstructures is characterized near crack nucleation sites using scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction images for correlating the grain morphology and crystallography to the location of crack nucleation sites. A concurrent multiscale model, embedding experimental polycrystalline microstructural representative volume elements (RVEs) in a homogenized material, is developed for fatigue simulations. The RVE domain is modeled by a crystal plasticity finite element model. An anisotropic continuum plasticity model, obtained by homogenization of the crystal plasticity model, is used for the exterior domain. A Bayesian classification method is introduced to optimally select informative state variable predictors of crack nucleation. From this principal set of state variables, a simple scalar crack nucleation indicator is formulated. 
    more » « less