Surrogate Models for Estimating Failure in Brittle and Quasi-Brittle Materials

Journal Article · Wed Jul 03 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Applied Sciences

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/app9132706· OSTI ID:1530910

Mudunuru, Maruti Kumar ; Panda, Nishant; Karra, Satish; Srinivasan, Gowri; Chau, Viet T.; Rougier, Esteban ; Hunter, Abigail; Viswanathan, Hari S.

In brittle fracture applications, failure paths, regions where the failure occurs and damage statistics, are some of the key quantities of interest (QoI). High-fidelity models for brittle failure that accurately predict these QoI exist but are highly computationally intensive, making them infeasible to incorporate in upscaling and uncertainty quantification frameworks. The goal of this paper is to provide a fast heuristic to reasonably estimate quantities such as failure path and damage in the process of brittle failure. Towards this goal, we first present a method to predict failure paths under tensile loading conditions and low-strain rates. The method uses a k-nearest neighbors algorithm built on fracture process zone theory, and identifies the set of all possible pre-existing cracks that are likely to join early to form a large crack. The method then identifies zone of failure and failure paths using weighted graphs algorithms. We compare these failure paths to those computed with a high-fidelity fracture mechanics model called the Hybrid Optimization Software Simulation Suite (HOSS). A probabilistic evolution model for average damage in a system is also developed that is trained using 150 HOSS simulations and tested on 40 simulations. A non-parametric approach based on confidence intervals is used to determine the damage evolution over time along the dominant failure path. For upscaling, damage is the key QoI needed as an input by the continuum models. This needs to be informed accurately by the surrogate models for calculating effective moduli at continuum-scale. We show that for the proposed average damage evolution model, the prediction accuracy on the test data is more than 90%. In terms of the computational time, the proposed models are ≈ O (10⁶) times faster compared to high-fidelity fracture simulations by HOSS. These aspects make the proposed surrogate model attractive for upscaling damage from micro-scale models to continuum models. We would like to emphasize that the surrogate models are not a replacement of physical understanding of fracture propagation. The proposed method in this paper is limited to tensile loading conditions at low-strain rates. This loading condition corresponds to a dominant fracture perpendicular to tensile direction. The proposed method is not applicable for in-plane shear, out-of-plane shear, and higher strain rate loading conditions.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: 20170103DR, 20150693ECR; 89233218CNA000001
• OSTI ID: 1530910
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1544715
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-18-25370; ASPCC7; PII: app9132706
• Journal Information: Applied Sciences, Journal Name: Applied Sciences Vol. 9 Journal Issue: 13; ISSN 2076-3417
• Publisher: MDPI AG
• Country of Publication: Switzerland
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Computer Science
Earth Sciences
Energy Sciences
Information Science
Mathematics
Dynamic fracture
fracture process zone
graph theory
failure paths
damage statistics
brittle failure.