Publication: Initial inclusion of thermodynamic considerations in Kayenta

T.J. Fuller, R.M. Brannon, O.E. Strack, J.E. Bishop

Displacement profile for Thermo-Kayenta at the end of the simulation. the red dots represent the experimental profiles

A persistent challenge in simulating damage of natural geological materials, as well as rock-like engineered materials, is the development of efficient and accurate constitutive models.The common feature for these brittle and quasi-brittle materials are the presence of flaws such as porosity and network of microcracks. The desired models need to be able to predict the material responses over a wide range of porosities and strain rate. Kayenta [1] (formerly called the Sandia GeoModel) is a unifi ed general-purpose constitutive model that strikes a balance between rst-principles micromechanics and phenomenological or semi-empirical modeling strategies. However, despite its sophistication and ability to reduce to several classical plasticity theories, Kayenta is incapable of modeling deformation of ductile materials in which deformation is dominated by dislocation generation and movement which can lead to signi cant heating. This stems from Kayenta’s roots as a geological model, where heating due to inelastic deformation is often neglected or presumed to be incorporated implicitly through the elastic moduli.The sophistication of Kayenta and its large set of extensive features, however, make Kayenta an attractive candidate model to which thermal eff ects can be added. This report outlines the initial work in doing just that, extending the capabilities of Kayenta to include deformation of ductile materials, for which thermal e ffects cannot be neglected. Thermal e ffects are included based on an assumption of adiabatic loading by computing the bulk and thermal responses of the material with the Kerley Mie-Gruneisen equation of state and adjusting the yield surface according to the updated thermal state. This new version of Kayenta, referred to as Thermo-Kayenta throughout this report, is capable of reducing to classical Johnson-Cook plasticity in special case single element simulations and has been used to obtain reasonable results in more complicated Taylor impact simulations in LS-Dyna. Despite these successes, however, Thermo-Kayenta requires additional re nement for it to be consistent in the thermodynamic sense and for it to be considered superior to other, more mature thermoplastic models. The initial thermal development, results, and required refinements are all detailed in the following report.

Available Online:

http://www.mech.utah.edu/~brannon/pubs/7-2010FullerBrannonStrackBishopThermodynamicsInKayenta.pdf

Publication: Application of Uintah-MPM to shaped charge jet penetration of aluminum

J. Burghardt, B. Leavy, J. Guilkey, Z. Xue, R. Brannon

The capability of the generalized interpolation material point (GIMP) method in simulation of penetration events is investigated. A series of experiments was performed wherein a shaped charge jet penetrates into a stack of aluminum plates. Electronic switches were used to measure the penetration time history. Flash x-ray techniques were used to measure the density,length, radius and velocity of the shaped charge jet. Simulations of the penetration event were performed using the Uintah MPM/GIMP code with several different models of the shaped charge jet being used. The predicted penetration time history for each jet model is compared with the experimentally observed penetration history. It was found that the characteristics of the predicted penetration were dependent on the way that the jet data are translated to a discrete description. The discrete jet descriptions were modified such that the predicted penetration histories fell very close to the range of the experimental data. In comparing the various discrete jet descriptions it was found that the cumulative kinetic energy flux curve represents an important way of characterizing the penetration characteristics of the jet. The GIMP method was found to be well suited for simulation of high rate penetration events.

Available Online:

http://iopscience.iop.org/1757-899X/10/1/012223
http://www.mech.utah.edu/~brannon/pubs/7-2010BurghardtLeavyGuilkeyXueBrannon_ApplicMPMshapedCharge.pdf

Publication: The Use of Sphere Indentation Experiments to Characterize Ceramic Damage Models

R.B. Leavy; R.M. Brannon; O.E. Strack

Weibull modulus effect on radial cracking in boron carbide simulations impacted at 400 m/s.

Sphere impact experiments are used to calibrate and validate ceramic models that include statistical variability and/or scale effects in strength and toughness parameters. These dynamic experiments supplement traditional characterization experiments such as tension, triaxial compression, Brazilian, and plate impact, which are commonly used for ceramic model calibration.The fractured ceramic specimens are analyzed using sectioning, X-ray computed tomography, microscopy, and other techniques. These experimental observations indicate that a predictive material model must incorporate a standard deviation in strength that varies with the nature of the loading. Methods of using the spherical indentation data to calibrate a statistical damage model are presented in which it is assumed that variability in strength is tied to microscale stress concentrations associated with microscale heterogeneity.

Available Online:
http://www.mech.utah.edu/~brannon/pubs/7-2009-LeavyBrannonStrack-IJACT.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7402.2010.02487.x

Research: Radial cracking as a means to infer aleatory uncertainty parameters

Aleatory uncertainty in constitutive modeling refers to the intrinsic variability in material properties caused by differences in micromorphology (e.g., grain orientation or size, microcracks, inclusions, etc.) from sample to sample. Accordingly, a numerical simulation of a nominally axisymmetric problem must be run in full 3D (non-axisymmetric) mode if there is any possibility of a bifurcation from stability.

Dynamic indentation experiments, in which a spherical ball impacts to top free surface of a cylindrical specimen, nicely illustrate that fracture properties must have spatial variability — in fact, the intrinsic instability that leads to radial cracking is regarded by the Utah CSM group as a potential inexpensive means of inferring the spatial frequency of natural variations in material properties.

Radial cracking in dynamic indentation experiments.

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Research: Instability of *ANY* nonassociative plasticity model

The CSM group has independently confirmed  a case study demonstrating the truth of a claim in the literature that any non-associative rate-independent model admits a non-physical dynamic achronistity instability. By stimulating a non-associative material in the “Sandler-Rubin wedge” (above yield but below the flow surface), plastic waves are generated that travel faster than elastic waves, thus introducing a negative net work in a closed strain cycle that essentially feeds energy into a propagating wave to produce unbounded increases in displacement with time.

Sandler-Rubin instability: an infinitesimal pulse grows as it propagates

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Powder metal jet penetration into stressed rock

The Uintah computational framework (UCF) has been adopted for simulation of shaped charge jet penetration and subsequent damage to geological formations.  The Kayenta geomechanics model, as well as a simplified model for shakedown simulations has been  incorporated within the UCF and is undergoing extensive development to enhance it to account for fluid in pore space.

A generic penetration simulation using Uintah

The host code (Uintah) itself has been enhanced to accommodate  material variability and scale effects. Simulations have been performed that import flash X-ray data for the velocity and geometry of a particulated metallic jet so that uncertainty about the jet can be reduced to develop predictive models for target response.  Uintah’s analytical polar decomposition has been replaced with an iterative algorithm to dramatically improve accuracy under large deformations. Continue reading

Accelerated hip implant wear testing

3D model Experimental Setup

Rim cracking of polyethylene acetabular liners and squeaking in ceramic components are two important potential failure modes of hip implants, but the loads and stresses that cause such failures are not well understood. Contact stresses in hip implants are analyzed under worst case load conditions to develop new wear testing methods to improve the pre-clinical evaluation of next-generation hip implants and their materials. Complicated full-scale hip implant simulator tests are expensive and take months to complete. A primary goal of this work is to find inexpensive surrogate specimen shapes and loading modes that can, in inexpensive lab tests taking only a few hours, produce the same wear patterns as seen in full-scale prototype testing. Continue reading

Computational approaches for dynamically loaded low-ductility metals

A generic Charpy simulation showing fracture at locations not observed in the lab

Eulerian simulations of un-notched Charpy impact specimens, provide unsatisfactory results in that experimentally observed bend angle, absorbed energy, and fracture mode are not reproduced. The Utah CSM group is independently confirming poor simulation fidelity using conventional constitutive models. From there, we aim to identify the cause, and investigate solutions using capabilities in the Kayenta material framework.

UofU Contributors/collaborators:
Krishna Kamojjala (PhD student, Mech. Engr., UofU)
Scot Swan (MS student, Mech. Engr., UofU)