A Multilevel Adaptive Mesh Scheme for Efficient Simulation of Thermomechanical Phase-Field Fracture
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 150, Issue 6
Abstract
The numerical modeling of thermomechanical fracture is an essential aspect of designing critical components in various industries, including aerospace, automobile, and nuclear. The phase-field method is a suitable approach for simulating thermomechanical fracture problems. However, this method can be computationally expensive. In this study, we propose a multilevel adaptive mesh refinement (ML-AMR) using a phase-field approach, for thermomechanical fracture problems. The proposed approach can efficiently and accurately capture the crack topology without the need for any pre-refinement or explicit marking of damage boundary. Our proposed ML-AMR algorithm introduces an error estimator based on effective crack driving energy computed based on thermomechanical loading using the three prominently used phase-field models (AT2, AT1, and PF-CZM). We demonstrate the accuracy and computational efficiency of the proposed method by simulating various thermomechanical fracture problems and comparing the results with the nonadaptive phase-field method that adopts a priori nonadaptively refined meshes. We consider different types of thermal and mechanical loading, including thermal shock, to evaluate the proposed approach comprehensively. Our results show that the proposed ML-AMR phase-field method reduces computation time by 78%–99% while accurately capturing the crack path, peak load, and total strain energy.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Ministry of Education, India. The fourth author (Rajib Chowdhury) additionally acknowledges funding support from the SERB via File No. CRG/2019/004600.
Author contributions: Ananya Bijaya: writing–original draft, visualization, validation, methodology, and conceptualization. Abhinav Gupta: writing–review and editing, visualization, validation, methodology, and conceptualization. U. Meenu Krishnan: writing–review and editing, visualization, validation, methodology, and conceptualization. Rajib Chowdhury: funding acquisition, supervision, and writing–review and editing.
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Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 150 • Issue 6 • June 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 21, 2023
Accepted: Jan 17, 2024
Published online: Apr 8, 2024
Published in print: Jun 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Sep 8, 2024
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