Issue 24

S. Psakhie et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 24 (2013) 26-59 ; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.24.04 26 Special Issue: Russian Fracture Mechanics School Development of a formalism of movable cellular automaton method for numerical modeling of fracture of heterogeneous elastic-plastic materials S. Psakhie, E. Shilko, A. Smolin, S. Astafurov, V. Ovcharenko Institute of strength physics and materials science SB RAS, Tomsk, Russia astaf@ispms.tsc.ru A BSTRACT . A general approach to realization of models of elasticity, plasticity and fracture of heterogeneous materials within the framework of particle-based numerical methods is proposed in the paper. It is based on building many-body forces of particle interaction, which provide response of particle ensemble correctly conforming to the response (including elastic-plastic behavior and fracture) of simulated solids. Implementation of proposed approach within particle-based methods is demonstrated by the example of the movable cellular automaton (MCA) method, which integrates the possibilities of particle-based discrete element method (DEM) and cellular automaton methods. Emergent advantages of the developed approach to formulation of many- body interaction are discussed. Main of them are its applicability to various realizations of the concept of discrete elements and a possibility to realize various rheological models (including elastic-plastic or visco-elastic- plastic) and models of fracture to study deformation and fracture of solid-phase materials and media. Capabilities of particle-based modeling of heterogeneous solids are demonstrated by the problem of simulation of deformation and fracture of particle-reinforced metal-ceramic composites. K EYWORDS . Particle-based approach; Movable cellular automata; Discrete elements; Many-particle interaction; Elastic-plastic medium; Fracture; Metal-ceramic composites. I NTRODUCTION modern theoretical approach used for description of heterogeneous solid is based on one of two concepts of representations of the medium: continuum or discrete. These concepts were suggested as memorandums to Paris Academy of Sciences by Cauchy and Navier, correspondingly, in the early 19th century. Notwithstanding the fact that discrete concept reflected discrete structure of matter more correctly at different spatial scales, during the following one and the half century the continuum concept prevailed. This was due to the fact that this concept gives the advantage of analytical description. It is necessary to note, that most of computational techniques used to model the behavior of condensed media is based on the continuum concept. The best known within this class of methods are finite element and finite-difference methods [1, 2]. At the present time meshless algorithms for numerical solution of equations of continuum (particle-in-cell method [3], SPH [4, 5], SPAM [6, 7]) are widely developed and applied as well. Numerical methods belonging to continuum concept has been proven quite efficient in solving problems of deformation of complex heterogeneous media of various nature. However, there exists a wide range of problems in which loading of a medium involves multiple fracture and slip of fragments, intense mass transfer, including effects of mass mixing, etc. Examples of these problems are flow of granular and loose media (powders, sands, soils), compaction of powder mixtures, processes in the contact spots of friction pairs, etc. These problems are too difficult to solve by methods of the continuum concept. A