Project 1.1: Advanced Multiscale Methods for Modeling of Fracture in Novel Nanomaterials

PIs: Radovitzky, Nelson, Zhao

 

Previous ISN efforts have furnished unique capabilities to model material fracture and failure with unprecedented fidelity. Building on these results, the goal of this project is to develop and validate a scalable simulation capability to analyze fracture of novel protective material systems under development at the ISN as well as to complement Army Research Laboratory (ARL) efforts. The approach will be to exploit and extend legacy simulation capabilities with special focus on coupling atomistic models of dicyclopentadiene polymer networks (DCPD) developed by ARL with continuum level discontinuous Galerkin/Cohesive Zone and Peridynamics capability. Particular interest was elicited in jointly developing a monolithic multiscale Peridynamics capability building on existing approaches developed at ARL and MIT. A critical aspect of the project will be the experimental validation using experimental data provided by ARL collaborators as well as by novel micron-scale laser-driven shock experiments to be conducted by ISN on new soft-hard hybrid composites to be synthesized at the ISN.

The main objective of this project is to develop and validate a multi-scale scalable simulation capability for the large-scale simulation and analysis of fracture of novel protective material systems under development at the ISN as well as to complement material modeling efforts within the ARL-WMRD Materials Campaign.

 

Image sequence recorded using a high-speed camera showing a particle impact on a 40vol% SEBS sample. A 13-μm steel micro-particle impacts with a speed of 630 m/s. The time stamps, shown at the tops of the frames, indicate the delay in acquisition time relative to the first frame of the sequence.
Image sequence recorded using a high-speed camera showing gel response following a converging shock wave. Microbubbles form within the first 10 ns and coalesce into a larger cavitation bubble which persists for approximately 6 μs before collapse.
Simulations and experiments of elastic instabilities in confined hydrogel layers under tension: fingering instability
Simulations and experiments of elastic instabilities in confined hydrogel layers under tension: fringe instabilities
Complex evolution of fingers at instability point with multiple snap-backs
Calculated phase diagram for the prediction of the initial occurrence mode of mechanical instabilities. Dots represent the experimental results and the solid lines represent theoretical calculations.