A method to incorporate grain size effects into crystal plasticity is presented. The classical Hall-Petch equation inaccurately predicts the macroscopic yield strength for materials with non-equiaxed grains or materials that contain unequal grain size distributions. These deficiencies can be overcome by incorporating both grain size and orientation characteristics into crystal plasticity theory. Homogenization relationships based on a viscoplastic Taylor-like approach are introduced along with a new function, the grain size and orientation distribution function (GSODF). Estimates of the GSODF for high purity α-titanium are recovered through orientation imaging microscopy coupled with the chord length distribution. A comparison between the new method and the traditional viscoplastic Taylor approach is made by evaluating yield surface plots.

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Simulative tests, such as asphalt pavement analyzer (APA), Hamberg rut tester etc. have been widely used to evaluate the performance of asphalt mixtures. However, simulative tests to evaluate the performance of the mixtures cannot give fundamental properties of Asphalt Concrete (AC) due to the complex stress and strain fields. On the other hand, due to the availability of high-performance computing systems and software, numerical techniques are gaining popularity. This dissertation presents a computational simulation method of the APA tests in order to evaluate the rutting potential of asphalt mixtures based on actual microstructure reconstructed from X-ray tomography images. In the study, the microstructure of AC is obtained through the analysis of X-ray images, which included the digital information of the microstructure for the scanned specimen. In the simulations the three phases, mastic (asphalt binder with mineral filler), aggregates, and voids are assigned with different material properties. Aggregates are modeled as an elastic material, and air voids are removed during the loading steps. The adopted two-layer model is only used to represent the rate and temperature dependent behavior of the mastics. The parameters are obtained with inverse methods. Based on the sensitivity analysis of the parameters, an iterative procedure is performed to optimize the parameters using the experimental measurement and results of the model simulations. A parametric study is also conducted to study the effect of major parameters such as the stiffness ratio of the networks on the macro response of the model. The simulation results obtained shows a good agreement with the experimental results. The dissertation also presents a method to measure micro strains in asphalt mixture. An automated procedure using tomography images to reconstruct three-dimensional particles is developed. The translations of the particles are obtained from the coordinate differences of particles' mass centers before and after the APA testing. The micro and macro strains in the mixture are calculated based on the particle translations. A good correlation is found between measured strains and experimental result. / Ph. D.

Hot section components of land-based gas turbines are subject to extremely harsh, high temperature environments and require the use of advanced materials. Directionally solidified Ni-base superalloys are often chosen as materials for these hot section components due to their excellent creep resistance and fatigue properties at high temperatures. These blades undergo complex thermomechanical loading conditions throughout their service life, and the influences of blade geometry and variable operation can make life prediction difficult. Accurate predictions of material response under thermomechanical loading conditions is essential for life prediction of these components. Complex crystal viscoplasticity models are often used to capture the behavior of Ni-base superalloys. While accurate, these models are computationally expensive and are not suitable for all phases of design. This work involves the calibration of a previously developed reduced-order, macroscale transversely isotropic viscoplasticity model to a directionally solidified Ni-base superalloy. The unified model is capable of capturing isothermal and thermomechanical responses in addition to secondary creep behavior. An extreme reduced order microstructure-sensitive constitutive model is also developed using an artificial neural network to provide a rapid first-order approximation of material response under various temperatures, rates of loading, and material orientation from the axis of solidification.

Additive manufacturing methods have been developed from rapid prototyping techniques and are now being considered as alternatives to conventional techniques of manufacturing. Stereolithography is one of the main additive methods and is considered highly accurate and consistent. Polymers are used as stereolithography materials and exhibit features such as high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, ease of manufacturing and good thermal and electrical resistance properties. However, they are sensitive to environmental factors such as temperature, moisture and UV light, with moisture being identified as one of the most important factors that affect their properties. Moisture generally has an adverse effect on the mechanical properties of polymers. Investigation of the effects of moisture on polymers can be carried out using a number of experimental techniques; however, the benefits of the depth sensing indentation method over bulk tests include its ability to characterise various mechanical properties in a single test from only a small volume of material and the investigation of spatial variation in mechanical properties near the surface. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of varying relative humidity on the indentation behaviour of stereolithography polymers and to develop a modelling methodology that can predict this behaviour under various humidities. It was achieved by a combination of experimental and numerical methods. Depth sensing indentation experiments were carried out at 33.5 %, 53.8 %, 75.3 % and 84.5 % RH (relative humidity) and 22.5 °C temperature to investigate the effects of varying humidity on the micron scale properties of the stereolithography resin, Accura 60. In order to minimise the effects of creep on the calculated properties, appropriate loading and unloading rates with suitable dwell period were selected and indentation data was analysed using the Oliver and Pharr method (1992). A humidity control unit fitted to the machine was used to condition the samples and regulate humidity during testing. Samples were also preconditioned at 33.5 %, 53.8 %, 75.3 % and 84.5 % RH using saturated salt solutions and were tested at 33.5 % RH using humidity control unit. It was seen that properties such as indentation depth increased and contact iv hardness and contact modulus decreased with increasing RH. The samples conditioned and tested using the humidity control unit at high RH showed a greater effect of moisture than the preconditioned samples tested at 33.5 % RH. This was because the samples preconditioned at high RH exhibited surface desorption of moisture when tested at ambient RH, resulting in some recovery of the mechanical properties. In order to investigate these further, tests were performed periodically on saturated samples after drying. Ten days drying of samples conditioned for five days at 84.5 % RH provided significant, though not complete, recovery in the mechanical properties. These tests confirmed that Accura 60 is highly hygroscopic and its mechanical properties are a function of RH and removal of moisture leads to a significant recovery of the original mechanical properties.

A busca por novos modelos matemáticos e técnicas inovadoras para análises numéricas tem sido tema de muitas pesquisas. Em análises de modelos que possuem domínios infinitos e semi-infinitos, o Método dos Elementos de Contorno (MEC) sobressai-se como uma das mais eficientes ferramentas numéricas. Por outro lado, em análises não-lineares o MEC requer a avaliação de integrais de domínio, diminuindo as vantagens de uma discretização apenas do contorno do modelo analisado. Neste trabalho apresenta-se uma técnica inovadora que trata as integrais de domínio, não adequadas para uma representação pura do contorno, em análises de modelos com materiais viscoplásticos. Na abordagem proposta, utiliza-se um novo algoritmo de visualização proposto por Noronha & Pereira para detectar as regiões de plastificação automaticamente. Este procedimento de detecção é realizado de forma incremental por meio de predições (gradiente como direção de busca) e iterações (Newton-Raphson). Uma vez que as regiões sejam obtidas, torna-se possível transformar as integrais de domínio em integrais de contorno de forma direta. Obtém-se assim uma abordagem baseada apenas na discretização do contorno dos modelos, mantendo uma das principais vantagens da utilização do MEC. Foram realizados neste trabalho alguns exemplos numéricos que apresentaram excelentes resultados em comparação com o Método dos Elementos Finitos (MEF) e com resultados encontrados na literatura. / The search for new mathematical models and innovative techniques for numerical analyses has been subject of many research studies. In analysis of models with infinite and semi-infinite domains, the Boundary Element Method (BEM) has been proved to be one of the most efficient numerical tools. On the other hand, in nonlinear analyses the BEM requires the evaluation of domain integrals, diminishing the advantages of a discretization only of the boundary of the model. This work presents an innovative technique that treats the domain integrals, not suitable for pure boundary representations, in analyses of models with viscoplastic materials. The proposed approach is based on a new post-processing algorithm developed by Noronha & Pereira to detect the plastic regions automatically. The detection procedure herein proposed is an incremental technique that uses prediction (along the gradient direction) and iteration (Newton-Raphson) loops. Once the plastic regions are found, it becomes possible to transform the domain integrals in boundary integrals in a straightforward manner. The proposed approach results in a pure boundary discretization, preserving the main advantage of the BEM. The numerical examples presented in this work are in good agreement with the Finite Element Method (FEM) and with results found in the literature.

Nous nous intéressons à la modélisation et à la simulation numérique d'écoulements gravitaires transitoires à surface libre, pour des fluides visqueux et incompressibles. La loi de comportement est de type viscoplastique avec transition fluide/solide. Plus précisément, nous considérons la loi rhéologique de Drucker-Prager. Nous nous intéressons tout d'abord le cas unidimensionnel d'un écoulement longitudinal cisaillé. Nous étudions un modèle simplifié, avec terme source empirique, pour lequel nous concevons une méthode numérique pour le suivi de la position de l'interface entre la couche solide et la couche fluide. Nous présentons des résultats numériques, avec divers termes sources, et nous comparons ces résultats, lorsque la viscosité est petite, à la solution analytique non visqueuse. Dans le cas visqueux, nous étudions les phases de démarrage et d'arrêt de l'écoulement. Dans un second temps, nous étudions le cas bidimensionnel d'écoulement de Drucker-Prager avec surface libre. La loi de comportement du fluide est traitée par régularisation, et nous utilisons la méthode ALE pour traiter le mouvement du domaine. Nous présentons des résultats numériques pour l'étude de la mise en mouvement d'un talus / This thesis deals with the modeling and numerical simulation of transient free-surface gravity flows, for viscous and incompressible fluids. The constitutive law is viscoplastic, with fluid/solid transition. More precisely, we consider the Drucker-Prager rheological law. We first study the case of a one-dimensional shear flow. We investigate a simplified model, with an empirical source term, for which we develop a numerical method to compute the position of the solid/fluid interface. We present numerical results for various source terms, and compare, in the case of small viscosity, our results to the inviscid analytical solution. In the viscous case, we study the case of a two-dimensional Drucker--Prager flow with free surface. The constitutive law of the fluid is regularized, and the ALE method is used to treat the displacement of the domain. Numerical results are presented for the setting in motion of an embankment

Thesis. 1978. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND AERONAUTICS. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references. / Ph.D.

Dynamic fracture of metals is a fascinating multiphysics-multiscale problem that often results in brittle and/or ductile fracture of structural components. Additionally, under high strain rates such as impact or blast loads, a failure phenomena known as shear banding may also occur, which is a common precursor to fracture. Both fracture and shear banding are instability processes leading to strong discontinuities and strain localization, respectively. Namely, shear bands are zones of highly localized plastic deformation, while brittle/ductile cracks are material discontinuities due to cleavage and/or void coalescence. Furthermore, while fracture events are mostly driven by triaxial tensile loading, shear bands are driven by shear heating caused by inelastic deformations and high temperature rise. In this work, fracture is modeled through a phase field formulation coupled to a set of equations that describe shear bands. While fracture is governed by a strong length scale that propagates at a fast time scale, shear bands are dominated by a weak length scale and propagate slower. These are two different failure modes with distinct spatial and temporal scales. This thesis is aimed at the development of analytical and numerical methods to determine the onset of both shear band localization and fracture. The main contribution of this thesis is the formulation of analytical criteria, based on the linear perturbation method, for the onset of fracture and shear band instabilities. We first propose a stability framework for shear bands that account for a non-constant Taylor Quinney coefficient. In addition, we apply the linear perturbation method to the phase field formulation of fracture to study the onset of unstable crack growth. The derivations lead to an analytical, energy based criterion for the phase field method in linear elastic and visco-plastic materials. The stability criterion not only recovers the critical stress value reported in the literature for simple elastic cases but also provides a criterion for visco-plastic materials with a general degradation function and fracture induced by cold-work. Finally, we analyze the physical stability of both failure modes and their interaction. The analysis provides insight into the dominant failure mode and can be used as a criterion for mesh refinement. Several numerical results with different geometries and a range of strain rate loadings demonstrate that the stability criterion predicts well the onset of failure instability in dynamic fracture applications. For the example problems considered, if a fracture instability precedes shear banding, a brittle-like failure mode is observed, while if a shear band instability is initiated significantly before fracture, a ductile-like failure mode is expected. In any case, fracture instability is stronger than a shear band instability and if initiated will dominate the response. Another contribution of this thesis is the development of numerical type stability methods based on the discretized model which can be employed within any finite element method. In this approach, a novel methodology to determine the onset of shear band localization is proposed, by casting the instability analysis as a generalized eigenvalue problem with a particular decomposition of the element Jacobian matrix. We show that this approach is attractive, as it is applicable to general rate dependent multidimensional cases and no special simplifying assumptions ought to be made. Furthermore, this technique is also applied to the fully coupled dynamic fracture problem and is shown to agree well with the analytical criteria. Finally, we propose an alternative for identifying the instability point following a generalized stability analysis concept. In this framework, a stability measure is obtained by computing the instantaneous growth rate of the vector tangent to the solution. Such an approach is more appropriate for non-orthogonal problems and is easier to generalize to difficult dynamic fracture problems.

Les aciers austénitiques inoxydables sont des candidats potentiels pour des composants de circuits des réacteurs de génération IV. Ces composants sont conçus pour fonctionner à hautes températures (500-600°C) et seront soumis à des sollicitations cycliques incluant de longs maintiens (~1mois) induisant une relaxation due aux phénomènes de viscoplasticité et de diffusion de lacunes. Ces temps de maintien sont inaccessibles en laboratoire d'où l'intérêt de la modélisation. L'objectif de cette étude a été de proposer des modèles de comportement capables de reproduire les différents mécanismes physiques observés expérimentalement. Dans un premier temps, une étude expérimentale a été menée sur l'acier 316L(N) incluant des essais de fatigue et de fatigue-relaxation à 500°C. Des essais de traction à différentes vitesses de déformation ont également été réalisés afin d'étudier le phénomène du vieillissement dynamique. La démarche de modélisation a été progressive. Nous nous sommes d'abord intéressés à la modélisation du comportement mécanique en fatigue pure et à température ambiante, pour différents matériaux métalliques de structure cubique à faces centrées dont l'acier 316L(N), en adoptant l'homogénéisation à champs moyens validée grâce à des calculs par éléments finis multicristallins. Ensuite, un modèle cristallin basé sur les densités de dislocations a été proposé et identifié pour des chargements de traction simple. Le modèle a ensuite été enrichi afin de prendre en compte les mécanismes de viscoplasticité, de montée et le vieillissement dynamique. le modèle fait appel à trois paramètres ajustables seulement et prédit correctement les courbes de traction et de relaxation. / Austenitic stainless steels are potential candidates for structural components of sodium-cooled fast neutron reactors. Many of these components will be subjected to cyclic loadings including long hold times (~ 1month) under creep or relaxation at high temperature. These hold times are unattainable experimentally. The aim of the present study is to propose mechanical models which take into account the involved mechanisms and their interactions during such complex loadings. First, an experimental study of the pure fatigue and fatigue-relaxation behavior of 316L(N) at 500°C has been carried out with very long hold times (10h and 50h) compared with the ones studied in literature. Tensile tests at 600°C with different applied strain rates have been undertaken in order to study the dynamic strain ageing phenomenon. Before focusing on more complex loadings, the mean field homogenization approach has been used to predict the mechanical behavior of different FCC metals and alloys under low cycle fatigue at room temperature. Both Hill-Hutchinson and Kröner models have been used. Next, a physically-based model based on dislocation densities has been developed and its parameters measured. The model allows predictions in a qualitative agreement with experimental data for tensile loadings. Finally, this model has been enriched to take into account viscoplasticity, dislocation climb and interaction between dislocations and solute atoms, which are influent during creep-fatigue or fatigue relaxation at high temperature. The proposed model uses three adjustable parameters only and allows rather accurate prediction of the behavior of 316L(N) steel under tensile loading and relaxation.