USING MULTISCALE MODELING TO ADVANCE INDUSTRIAL AND RESEARCH APPLICATIONS OF ADVANCED MATERIALS

Multiscale simulation enables strong coupling of material behavior and component structural response while reducing computational time significantly. For that reason, multiscale modeling has been adopted by industries at a fast pace. For heterogeneous and anisotropic materials, this approach can give a better explanation of the global deformation behavior and specific failure mechanisms occurring at the microscale and how these affect the meso- and macroscales. Multiscale methods are very flexible and can be applied to a wide range of materials that possess any sort of heterogeneity, including embedded fibers, porosity, particles, and so forth. Additionally, manufacturing variability can be naturally accounted for by multiscale approaches. In this paper, three use cases illustrate different applications of FE2 multiscale simulation in industrial and academic environments. The first use case focuses on virtual testing of fiber reinforced composites for the purpose of expediting material development. Using a true FE2 method, independently measured constituent properties inform the representative volume element (RVE) enabling a true bottom-up approach to predict composite properties. The second case is the study of crack initiation and propagation due to thermal and mechanical effects of C/C-SiC material, where cracks in the matrix material or in the fiber/matrix interface can be modeled explicitly and results can be used to optimize the constituent materials allowing for fewer densification cycles. The third use case utilizes multiscale modeling in the research of advanced nanomaterials.