A multi-physics analysis capability for engine materials
Significant challenges persist in the modeling of material damage processes in heterogeneous material systems such as environmental/thermal barrier coatings exposed to the hot corrosive environment of turbine engine. Examples of such damage processes include a formation of the through-the-thickness vertical cracks, a diffusion of oxygen and moisture through those cracks, and an oxidation and a delamination. Environmental/thermal barrier coatings can revolutionize the aerospace and related industries by providing means to build fuel-efficient and low-emission turbine engines operating at elevated temperatures. In this Phase I effort, analysis of detrimental damage processes in the protective coatings was established through a predictive multi-physics (structural, thermal, and environmental) peridynamic modeling. This modeling was enabled by hardening a peridynamic code for industry use and by an integration of this innovative code with commercial software that is the computational tool of choice for aerospace engine applications. The present peridynamic code is a highly efficient, massively parallel C++ simulation tool for solving 3-D problems in multi-physics and material failure. It is based on the peridynamic method that unifies the mechanics of continuous media, cracks, and discrete particles, thereby potentially avoiding many critical limitations of the traditional Finite Element method. This Phase I project has demonstrated feasibility of a unique high-performance computing technology to address current inadequate material design of environmental/thermal barrier coating systems. Specifically, multi-physics peridynamic equations which are valid everywhere, including dynamically evolving discontinuities have been implemented in the code. Testing and demonstration of the multi-physics capabilities have been performed for the heat transfer, reactive oxidation, and delamination of coating with a composition borrowed from the open literature. It was determined that the present modeling capabilities were 2x faster than the traditional peridynamic codes with the constant horizon. A preliminary bridging framework integrating the peridynamic code with commercial software was designed. The proposed multi-physics software will be used as a computer-aided engineering tool for virtual testing of heterogeneous material systems capable of withstanding corrosive environment in the hot section parts of turbine engines operating at elevated temperatures. The multi-billion aerospace coatings segment was identified as the target market for this new virtual tool.
- Research Organization:
- Sunergolab, Inc.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- Contributing Organization:
- Sandia National Laboratories, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, and ANSYS Solution Partner Program
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0019555
- OSTI ID:
- 1601793
- Type / Phase:
- STTR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-SUNERGO-19555
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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