Ultrascalable Modelling of Advanced Materials with Complex Architectures
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Materials
Abstract
Technological advances in power generation and transport systems are currently materials limited. Ideal materials are not available for use in the increasingly extreme environments (high temperatures, high thermal fluxes, pressures, irradiation damage, fatigue etc) these novel designs require. Many of the current suggested solutions to these problems are composites. However, the combination of two or more physically distinct phases with different constituent material properties to form a single material is fraught with fabrication and modelling difficulties.There is considerable interest in the reliable prediction of the bulk properties of composite materials based on the properties of the constituent materials and the microstructural morphology as this clearly enables novel materials to be designed with specified requirements (e.g. toughness, stiffness). Coupled with rapid prototyping and greater control of composite fabrication processes, this could deliver a new generation of high performance materials. High resolution imaging in 3-D such as x-ray microtomography (XMT), the materials science equivalent of medical CAT scans, can now probe at the sub-micron scale and coupled with numerical solvers could in principle provide turnkey solutions for modelling physical processes. However there are two main technical hurdles to the adoption of image based analysis: (1) robustly and accurately converting the 3-D data into computational meshes suitable for solvers; and (2) the size of computational problem required to study domains at suitable resolutions and size to bridge the micro to macro length scales such that the volumes modelled are representative of the bulk of the material. Both of these problems will be addressed within the project by combining and further developing state of the art techniques developed by the applicants for solving large scale problems (novel iterative solvers) and for meshing from 3-D images.In order to provide corroboration for the solution techniques to be developed and implemented, two problems with which some of the applicants have experience and which typify a very broad range of industrially and biologically important structures will be considered: ceramic matrix composites and open-celled foams. Both structural and thermal properties will be explored. These materials are exemplars as they represent two different challenges to the computational approach: the composite has a multiphase complex architecture; the foam undergoes very large strain deformation followed by element contact and strain localisation. These challenges are common to a wide range of materials.This ambitious project addresses three intimately linked problems that require the combination of skills contained within the team whose solutions will have far reaching application in computing, and materials engineering, namely: predicting behaviour of materials with complex architectures; parallel simulation of problems with large strains and contacts; and efficient algorithms for remeshing deformable media.
Organisations
Publications
Farooqi J.
(2008)
Investigating predictive capabilities of image-based modeling for woven composites in a scalable computing environment
in Materials Science and Technology Conference and Exhibition, MS and T'08
Babout L
(2008)
Three-dimensional characterization and thermal property modelling of thermally oxidized nuclear graphite
in Acta Materialia
Ali J
(2008)
New Materials for Extreme Environments
Berre C
(2008)
Application of a micromechanics model to the overall properties of heterogeneous graphite
in Journal of Nuclear Materials
Ali J
(2009)
Comparative study of predictive FE methods for mechanical properties of nuclear composites
in Journal of Nuclear Materials
Manning PL
(2009)
Biomechanics of dromaeosaurid dinosaur claws: application of X-ray microtomography, nanoindentation, and finite element analysis.
in Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007)
Ali J
(2013)
Image based modelling of stress-strain behaviour in carbon/carbon composites
in Energy Materials
Alghamdi A
(2013)
Multi-scale 3D image-based modelling of a carbon/carbon composite
in Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering
Evans L
(2015)
Transient thermal finite element analysis of CFC-Cu ITER monoblock using X-ray tomography data
in Fusion Engineering and Design
Ren W
(2015)
Two-dimensional X-ray CT image based meso-scale fracture modelling of concrete
in Engineering Fracture Mechanics
Description | Developed methodology for modelling challenging materials and structures |
Exploitation Route | Use of open source software to model a wide range of systems |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Energy Environment Government Democracy and Justice Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Security and Diplomacy Transport |
Description | Development of methodology for modelling challenging materials and structures. This has been used in a wide range of fields from archaeology to nuclear fusion. |
First Year Of Impact | 2007 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Energy,Environment,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Transport |
Impact Types | Economic Policy & public services |
Description | Direct grant |
Amount | € 150,000 (EUR) |
Funding ID | ESTEC20741/07/NL/EM |
Organisation | European Space Agency |
Sector | Public |
Country | France |
Start | 03/2007 |
End | 03/2009 |
Description | Direct grant |
Amount | £83,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Culham Centre for Fusion Energy |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2012 |
End | 09/2016 |
Description | Direct grant |
Amount | £78,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Culham Centre for Fusion Energy |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2009 |
End | 09/2013 |
Description | Sortware development grant |
Amount | £54,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2010 |
End | 03/2011 |
Title | ParaFEM |
Description | Ultrascalable FE solver |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2007 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Use in applications from geotechnics to nuclear systems |