Contents

1 Irfan Malik,Anatol Be kstedt,S.M. Azam Rashdi:

Criti al Review on
Multis ale

F E2

elastovis oplasti analysis of omposite stru tures

by F. Feyel

1.1 Introdu tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2.1 SiC/Ti Materials and their Behavior Modeling
1.2.2 F E 2 Methodologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2.3 The F E 2 Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3 Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.4 Appli ation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.5 Criti al Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.6 Con lusions and Comparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Irfan Malik,Anatol Be kstedt,S.M. Azam Rashdi:

Criti al Review on

Multis ale

F E2

elastovis oplasti analysis of

omposite stru tures by F. Feyel

1.1

Introdu tion

This is a riti al review on the s ienti paper Multis ale F E 2 Elastovis oplati
Analysis of Composite Stru tures written by Feyel [1 and published 1999 in the
Issue 16 on the pages 344-354 of Journal of Computational Material S ien e. The
arti le dis usses Modeling of behavior of stru tures reinfor ed by long bre SiC/Ti
omposite material with a periodi Boundary mi rostru ture.
A Multilevel Finite Element approa h is used to introdu e a model whi h takes
into a ount the heterogeneities in behavior between bre and matrix. The author
had tried to show possibility of ombining multis ale model with parallel omputation te hniques and hen e leading to realisti omposite stru ture omputations
resulting a detailed geometri des ription and onstitutive equations for mi rostru tural data instead of only for phenomenologi al ma ros opi data whi h is di ult
to orrelate with lo al me hani al state.
1.2

Summary

1.2.1 SiC/Ti Materials and their Behavior Modeling

Thrust to weight ratio is one of important parameters for performan e of aeronauti al turboma hines and needs to be as high as possible for a better performan e.
The author has dis ussed two approa hed whi h were already being onsidered at
that time.To in rease thrust (operating temperature) for a given weight using thermodynami knowledge or to de rease weight for a given thrust using new materials
with high temperature resistan e. Long bre SiC/Ti materials have been developed
already based on the se ond approa h.The authors state that these bres are ordered periodi ally in Titanium matrix. Literature provides a distin tion between
ma ros opi s ale of stru ture studied and mi ros opi s ale of an elementary ell
ontaining a bre embedded in the matrix.
The FE analysis of su h stru tures requires rened dis retization of at least the
size of heterogeneities (bre) size but this was impossible till the time of this resear h
due to obvious reasons of CPU time requirement and unavailability of enough memory spa e. The two approa hes being used at that time for the modeling of su h
materials namely the phenomenologi al approa h and multilevel FE approa h have
been dis ussed in the paper.
The phenomenologi al approa h was used to obtain onstitutive equations for
volume elements from experimental observations and is based on model of bre and
matrix behavior asso iated with homogenization and averaging rules. A ording
1

to author, this approa h and it's submodels in lude the on ept of phase (various
onstituents) and asso iated behavior and therefore provide more information than
mi ros opi plasti ity models. But these models did not have mu h s ope of appli ation as they required ertain assumptions. Besides, they provided no details for
mi ros opi a tions between bre and matrix. This was onsidered as a drawba k
sin e the debonding o urring at the interfa e of bre/matrix ee ts the response
of volume elements. The multilevel FE approa h was onsidered as a solution to all
the problems in phenomenologi al approa h. In this approa h, FE omputation of
mi ros opi bre and matrix stru ture gives the behavior of ea h volume element.

1.2.2 F E 2 Methodologies
The multilevel F E 2 approa h belongs to multis ale models. In these models onstitutive equations are written on mi ros opi s ale and then homogenization and
e and stress
e from
lo alization equations are used to ompute ma ros opi strain E
the me hani al state at mi ros opi level. The problem of using su h an approa h
is the hoi e of mi ros opi s ale. The bres are multilayer omposite materials but
are still assumed as homogeneous for urrent work and basi bre/matrix pattern
has been hosen at the mi ros opi s ale. In this regard, the author was of the
opinion that this assumption is not too restri tive and that bre remains elasti and
is only slightly deformed. He has reasoned that a further detailed analysis involves
hara teristi s of ea h layer and so is not a essible. Till the time of this resear h
work, only the phenomenologi al approa h was being applied to behavior models of
mi ros opi s ale and self onsistent s heme and its derivatives provided the onne tion between dierent s ales. Su h models are only satisfa tory for materials with
random mi rostru ture metal poly rystals and are not suitable for resear h related
to ompletely ordered mi rostru ture. Instead, the author applied FE omputation
on a basi ell to get lo al behavior of bre/matrix mi rostru ture and periodi
homogenization theory for s ale transition equations. The periodi homogenisation
e E
e ) assumed to ontheory works to hara terize behavior of a volume element (
tain a large number of basi patterns ordered periodi ally using the behavior of one
elementary pattern(ee). Eq. 1.1 to Eq. 1.5 explain this theory. Mi ros opi displa ements an be written as sum of periodi eld and ma ros opi eld .x denotes
e mi ros opi strain tensor and v is periodi eld with
lo al referen e on a ell, E
period of a base ell.
e
u(x) = v(x) + Ex

(1.1)

e =<
e >

(1.2)

e =< e >
E

(1.3)

Lo alization and homogenization equations were obtained from Eq. 1.2 and
Eq. 1.3.

The fourth order tensors A and B ensure lo alization of stress and strain respe tively Eq. 1.4 and Eq. 1.5 and both have average of identity A = B = I
2

e
e = A

(1.4)

e
e = BE

(1.5)

1.2.3 The F E 2 Model

e by the following steps.
The F E 2 model onne ts Ee with
e i.e appli ation of the periodi onditions on a basi ell.This
Lo alization of E

means the appli ation of equal displa ement ondition within the strain tensor
e on opposite edges of ell as shown in Fig. 1.1
E

The implementation is then validated by al ulating lo alization tensors A

and B when me hani al state of ell is known. F E omputation of strain and

stress state of elementary ell is arried out. The s hemati des ription of this
model is shown in Fig. 1.2

e =<e
e:
>cell
The last step involves the Homogenization of

Fig. 1.1:

Fig. 1.2:

Periodi ity Computation

S hemati Diagram of F E 2 Model

1.3

Implementation

Multilevel FE Prin iple

The omputation ode whi h has been used for the implementation of the multilevel F E 2 Model is alled ZeBuLoN 7. It is an obje t-oriented ode. The approa h onsists of interleaved FE algorithms. These algorithms are based on newton
method. The following the sequen e of algorithms has been used in implementation
of the F E 2 model. First step, whi h is the global step on the ma rosopi s ale, is
done by newton method algorithm. Hen e, a linear system of equations is solved.
Su h a system is given by
e =F
Kq
(1.6)
e is the stiness matrix, q the ve tor of displa ements and F the load ve tor.
where K
At the lo al step on ma ros opi s ale the F E 2 prin iple omes into play. This means
that instead of using phenomenologi al onstitutive equations for al ulating the
me hani al state of the stru ture, now the stress state of every node is omputed by
a FE al ulation. This se ond FE omputation then takes pla e at the mi ros opi
level and a ounts for the intera tion between bre and matrix. As des ribed in
the hapter before the periodi homogenization theory is used for transition from
ma ros opi to mi ros opi level. That means that the FE omputation has to be
done only on one ell(elementary ell) to ompute the me hani al state of RVE.
Like at ma ros opi level newton method is used for the algorithms whi h perform
this (F E 2 ) al ulation. Last step of the implementation is the lo al step at the
mi ros opi level. Here, the phenomenologi al onstitutive equations are used to
ompute stresses in ea h node. One have to denote that the phenomenologi al
onstitutive equations are only used at this stage of implementation. This F E 2
prin iple ould even be extended and a third FE omputation ould be implemented.
Or in other words, the F E 2 method ould be applied starting at the mi ros opi s ale
additional to the rst F E 2 omputation whi h has its rst step at ma ros opi level.
This would be ne e ary to des ribe the behavior of the poly rystalline titanium
matrix of elementary ell. Fig. 1.3 shows dierent steps of a F E 3 model.

The mi ros opi s ale of des ribed F E 2 model is now denoted as mesos opi s ale
onsisting of SiC/Ti omposite in F E 3 model. Mi ros opi s ale of F E 3 model is a
poly rystalline aggregate, in whi h the grains are single rystals. The F E 3 model
ould be implemented and would result a better simulation of SiC/Ti behavior but
implementation is limited due to limitation of memory spa e and large omputation
time. Thus, simulation is limited to multis ale F E 2 method.
F E2

Model and Parallel Computation

The F E 2 simulation has to be performed on parallel omputers, so that the

memory spa e and speed of these workstations is su ient to rea h a high neness of
dis retization and onstitutive equations with a large number of internal variables.
Parallelization of the ZeBuLoN ode is done by the Finite Element Tearing and
Iter onne t(FETI) method. It is is an iterative sub stru turing method for solving
systems of linear equations.
4

Fig. 1.3:

F E 3 Modeling of SiC/Ti omposite stru ture

Lo al Stage: Integration of F E 2 Model

At ma ros opi and mi ros opi lo al stage onstitutive equations an be implemented independently from the me hani al state of neighboring Gauss points.
So, for integration domain de omposition methods an used, whi h simply means
that groups of elements are al ulated on dierent omputers. Ea h group is a Subdomain ontaining a number of RVEs. Ea h RVE represents one Gauss point of
ma ros opi stru ture.

Global Stage: Global Equilibrium Computation

The global equilibrium is solved by applying FETI method, whi h is a spe i

domain de omposition method. This means that the nite element mesh of the
ma ros opi domain is divided into several subdomains. For ea h of this subdomain equilibrium has to be omputed. This omputation is performed on parallel
omputers( therefore parallel omputation), whereat state variables of ea h subdomain inuen es the omputation of all other subdomains. The author des ribes this
pro ess as a ooperative work between all subdomains. A hievement of this implementation is that nally global equilibrium an be solved out of the equilibriums
of all subdomains and me hani al state of SiC/Ti material an be omputed. The
linear system of equations in Eq. 1.6 denotes the global equilibrium.
If is the domain of olle tive nite element mesh, i is the subdomain partitions
and S the number of subdomains.
=

S
X

(1.7)

i=1

e i q = F i + Bi
K
i

(1.8)

ei
The linear system of equations in Eq. 1.8 denotes the lo al equilibrium. Here, K
is the stiness matrix of subdomain i, qi the displa ement ve tor and F i the load
ve tor of the subdomain. Next two variables of Eq. 1.8 are needed due to oa tion of

subdomains where B denotes restri tion operators on i and i are the for es whi h
has to be enfor ed on the boundaries of subdomains for displa ement ontinuity
a ross all subdomains. An iterative onjugate gradient method is used to estimate
these for es.
S
X

Bi q i = 0

(1.9)

i=1

Displa ement ontinuity is des ribed by formula in Eq. 1.9. At this point the
editors of the s ienti paper give a hint at a ase, where lo al problem of FETI is
ill- onditioned. This ase o urs if there is a subdomain on whi h no displa ement
are applied on boundarys (no Diri hlet boundary ondition), then FETI method
would ause rigid body motions on this subdomain by applying for es on subdomain
boundarys (Neumann boundary onditions). This problem is solved by applying
proje ted onjugate gradient method.

Evaluation of Tangent Matrix

Non-linear behavior problems are solved using newton method during implementation of ZeBuLoN ode. For a hievement of high onvergen e speed(quadrati
onvergen e) it is ne essary to know approximated values for tangent matrix a priori.
The matrix to be al ulated would be:
e = (e
K
)/(e
)

(1.10)

It is a partial derivation of stress and strain tensor. The method used in implee is alled perturbation method. Main prin iple
mentation ode to approximate K
of this method is to identify a small parameter, whi h makes a al ulation of a
non-linear problem possible by setting this parameter to zero. For example the
dierential equation is used to get a derivation of a non-linear fun tion in one point.
1.4

Appli ation

Four-Point Bending

A ording to the author the mesh used for 4-Point Bending test for the Beam
made up of omposite material. In whi h the bre are oriented in perpendi ular
to plane. And half of the real stru ture is meshed for ease. In this analysis plain
strains are assumed that is 33 is equal to zero.The F E 2 model te hniques work at
the ost of two things:
1. High Memory
2. High omputation power
This study deals with non-linear ase (matrix vis o-plasti ity), so the required omputation power and memory are mu h higher. Fig. 1.4 shows the mesh of the
mi rostru ture asso iated with the F E 2 model. The author used quadrati FEs
whi h appear as oarse but it was later on veried that this does not introdu e any
FE dis retization errors (at least for the homogenized elasti ity oe ients). The
6

main advantage of using this te hnique is that it provides both mi ros opi and
ma ros opi results simultaneously and whi h in result give detailed lo al stresses
and strains analysis in order to estimates lo al damage before the ultimate failure of
the stru ture. Fig. 1.5 shows the generally non-linear ma ros opi response of the
stru ture due to mi ros opi vis oplasti ity and represents a rst, very approximate,
stage of omputational analysis.

Fig. 1.4:

Fig. 1.5:

Mesh of the mi rostru ture

asso iated with the F E 2

Global response of the

beam: for e/displa ement
urve

The rst stage analysis an then be rened by examining the su essive strain
rates of the beam as well as the asso iated isovalue maps (stress or strain) as shown
in Fig. 1.6. Mi ros opi strength of the bre/matrix interfa e is an essential fa tor
whi h determines the ma ros opi failure. An analysis an be made on this s ale by
ombining parallel omputation and the F E 2 model.

Fig. 1.6:

Fig. 1.7:

Isovalues of 11 at maximum loading (MPa)

Mi ros opi isovalues of

vcum at maximum loading
(x103 ),ma ros opi mesh

Fig. 1.7 shows the isovalues of vcum at maximum loading in point 1, learly
demonstrating the essential role of the interfa e strength, whi h must be able to a 7

 ommodate a large dieren e in vis oplasti strain between the matrix (vis oplasti )
and Fibre (elasti ). Furthermore, as expe ted, region 3 of the ma ros opi mesh is
subje ted to a small share of shear, ausing a deformed mi rostru ture, as shown in
Fig. 1.8 .

Fig. 1.8:

Mi ros opi isovalues of 12 at maximum loading (x105 )

Inuen e of Fibre Size

The author ompared the F E 2 omputations with Quadrati 2D elements with six
and eight nodes having dierent s ale fa tors and for dierent bre diameters given
in Fig. 1.9. And total bending/for e response from these omputation was ompared
with F E 2 models, and it was found that the urves onverges towards F E 2 solution and fast, even for bre diameter below 0.32mm whi h was relatively large as
ompared with beam size (5x30mm), F E 2 gives good approximation. Even though
the F E 2 is ostly and requires parallel omputations but less then other two. And
omputation time is less then others whi h is shown in Fig. 1.10.

Fig. 1.10:

Fig. 1.9:

Chara teristi s of the Computations

Computation ompletion
time a ording to bre diameter

It is observed that the F E 2 solution gives a satisfa tory approximation for a bre
diameter of the same magnitude as the volume around a Gauss point of the F E 2
ma ros opi mesh. It has been veried that this mesh is not too oarse and does
not introdu tion any FE dis retization error.
8

Rotor subje ted to Centrifugal Loading

Engine manufa turers are onsidering the repla ement of metalli turbine rotors
by bladed rings whose bore is reinfor ed by a omposite, as illustrated in Fig. 1.11.

Fig. 1.11:

S hemati diagram of reinfor ed turbine rotor

Whi h results in the omplex omputations for this type of stru ture whi h are
subje ted to entrifugal loading, taking the reinfor ement mi rostru ture into a ount in detail. Thus a ording to author F E 2 model is espe ially well suited for
that. It is assumed that the average radius of the part is large ompared with the
required speed of rotation, so that the urvature of the bres an be negle ted. Generalized plane strains are then assumed on the mi ros opi s ale and axisymmetry
on the ma ros opi s ale.

Mesh and Boundary Conditions

This geometry is relatively arbitrary, be ause of a la k of data on the dimensions of

a real rotor made this way as illustrated in Fig. 1.12.

Fig. 1.12:

Ma ros opi and mi ros opi mesh, ma ros opi boundary onditions of an

F E 2 omputation, reinfor ed rotor with entrifugal loading

This omputation also requires large pro essing and have higher load on pro essor
than the others, sin e it pro esses a reinfor ement band plus the entire homogeneous
part. The homogeneous part is negligible due to F E 2 modeln was not a problem.
And it omputes faster this way.
A ording to the author, the analysis for this ase is similar to beam. Various levels
of analysis are a essible. Fig. 1.13 shows the shear stress 12 at the end of the
loading amplied ve-times. The transition region between the homogeneous material and the reinfor ement is riti al for the strength of the stru ture. Complex
9

non-proportional loading o urs in this region, as shown by the urves of Fig. 1.14,
des ribing the variation of the triaxiality rate of the stresses along the axis of symmetry of the part at dierent times.

Fig. 1.13:

Fig. 1.15:

Stress 12 (MPa) at the

end of loading, enlarged 5
times

Fig. 1.14:

Amplied
mi ros opi
isovalues of strain v12 ,
ma ros opi mesh

Fig. 1.16:

Variation of the triaxiality

rate along the axis of symmetry

Mi ros opi isovalues of

stress 33 (MPa), ma ros opi mesh

Fig. 1.15 and Fig. 1.16 illustrate phenomena on a ner s ale, that of the bre/matrix pattern, in the ma ros opi region denoted as 1 in Fig. 1.13. The shape
of the ells learly shows the presen e of shear omponents, whi h is onrmed by
examination of isovalues ev
12 .
10

1.5

Criti al Review

The multis ale F E 2 method an be used to nd an unknown onstitutive

relationship at ma ros ale by solving lo al FE problem at mi ros ale. This

method ould also be applied in ombination to an asymptoti numeri al
method(ANM) [4. In ontrast with F E 2 the use of asymptoti development
allows to transform the non-linear mi ros opi problems into sequen e of linear
problems. The use of ANM allows treating instabilities and simplies problem
at both s ales.

Computational Homogenization provides a powerful, omputationally inten-

sive, te hnique for apturing the inuen e of an evolving mi rostru ture on the
overall ma ros opi behavior. The homogenization method whi h is des ribed
in this paper (periodi homogenization theory) is a rst order homogenization
method. This means that an innitely small RVE is assumed in omparison
to ma ros opi s ale. The use of se ond order s hemes ould be reasonable
for some problems to apture geometri size ee ts. Se ond order s hemes introdu es a material length s ale into ma ros opi model. But this also makes
size of RVE an important parameter for ma ros opi response. And there is
no lear way of determining this length s ale. If the RVE an not be dened
or s ales an not be separated learly omputational homogenization is not
appli able and full resolution is ne essary. One solution to this problem has
been given in [6 whi h utilizes geometri multi-grid pre onditioner and the
s ale transition methodology from omputational homogenization. Su h an
approa h is still omputationally intensive and so [5 presents a novel hybrid
multis ale approa h that avoids the need for the nite element mesh to fully
resolve all heterogeneities. In omparison to where the nite element mesh
fully resolves the mi rostru ture, this novel approa h signi antly redu es the
number of degrees of freedom required while still a urately apturing the
inuen e of the in lusions.

Another ee tive model to des ribe mi ros opi heterogeneities is the Trans-

formation Field Analysis Model[3. It is based on the idea of a purely elasti

redistribution of the ma ros opi stress and strain, and of the lo al eigenstresses or eigen-strains. The F E 2 and TFA approa hes have been re ognized
to deliver lose results provided that the number of sub-volumes is not too
small. Main advantage of the F E 2 model is that no ma ros opi onstitutive
equation is needed and all physi s is at mi ros ale s ale.There is possibility
of using all tools lassi ally available in the nite element ode Zebulon (for
instan e all materials models, ohesive models, et ). In ontrary to the F E 2 ,
the TFA model is based on analyti al developments. This method ould indu e mu h lower omputing time than the F E 2 provided that the number of
sub-volumes is not very large.

The F E 2 is possible to use, only if the size of the RVE does not vanish (very

small) and further the mesh should not be oarser or it would result in FE
dis retization errors. Su h lo al analyses allow also studying mi rostru tures
omposed of oarse grains (for instan e bres of a signi ant size relatively to
11

the stru tural size and the solution wavelength). This means that is possible
to take into a ount the ma ros opi me hani al gradients on the representative volume element and by a similar methodology the side ee ts. Indeed,
near a free side or a transition zone between the omposite material and the
homogeneous material, there is no periodi ity and it iss ne essary to be able
to take it into a ount[3.
An example has been presented where the size of the heterogeneities is omparable to the size of the stru ture itself for good approximation. F E 2 s heme

is a very simple to build material models for generalized ontinua, as it does

not require any analyti al equations (whi h are very di ult to obtain) at
the ma ros opi s ale (the s ale of the generalized ontinuum) and every nonlinearity dire tly arises from the mi ros opi s ale,for whi h material models
are well established. But spe i enhan ements are however needed in order
to a ount properly for the onsequen es of the failure hara teristi s of the
onstituents.

The F E 2 s heme has allowed us to determine riti al zones in the analysed

stru ture where interfa e debonding in the SiC/Ti omposite are o urring.
A re-lo alisation te hnique an moreover be applied in order to obtain an
a urate des ription of the lo al quantities at the omposite s ale.

1.6

Con lusions and Comparisons

This paper explain the Multis ale FE methodologies in general and in parti ular
the F E 2 s heme developed by the author. He has worked on a general approa h
as ompared to all the reasear h already avalaible .The aim was to solve omplete
homoginization problem for ea h load in rement. Besides, no parti ular s ale transition rule was onsidered due to onsideration of possibility to use dierent ontinuum
media for both ma ro and mi ros opi s ale hen e allowing the option to onsider
size ee ts, me hani al gradient et .
The F E 2 omputation is of ourse ostly and requires parallel omputation.
Nevertheless, there has been a rapid in rease and development in the strengths of
omputers during re ent years. The important point is that this type of omputation
an take full advantage of a numeri altreatment on parallel omputers. It is even
on eivable that higher order FE-multis ale models will be appli able in future. The
F E 2 s heme has an advantage that the solution gives a satisfa tory approximation
for bre diameter of the same magnitude as the volume around a Gauss point of the
F E 2 ma ros opi mesh. The reasear h varies that the mesh is not too oarse and
produ es no FE dis retization error.
The author also has ontinued his resear h on F E 2 and provided an improved
approa hed by oupling two dierent ontinuum at dierent s ales[2. The advantage
of su h a oupling is that it allows to es ape from the lassi al assumption of s ale
separation.
12

Referen es

[1 F. Feyel. Multis ale FE2 elastovis oplasti analysis of omposite stru tures.
Computational Materials S ien e, 1999.
[2 F. Feyel. A multilevel nite element method ( FE2 ) to des ribe the response of
highly non-linear stru tures using generalized ontinua. Comput. Methods Appl.
Me h. Engrg., 2003.
[3 P. Kanout, S. Kru h F. Feyel, N. Carrre, and J.L. Chabo he. Multis ale
modelling of non-linear behaviour of heterogeneous materials: omparison of
several homogenisation methods. ONERA, DMSE/LCME, 2002.
[4 C. Nezamabadi, J. Yvonnet, H. Zahrouni, and M. P. Ferry. A multilevel omputational strategy for handling mi ros opi and ma ros opi instabilities. Comput.
Methods Appl. Me h. Engrg., 2008.
[5 J. Novk, L. Ka zmar zyk, P. Grassl, and C.J. Pear e. Hybrid omputational
modelling of heterogeneous materials. Pro eedings of the Tenth International
Conferen e on Computational Stru tures Te hnology, 2010.
[6 C.J. Pear e, L. Ka zmar zyk, and J. Novk. Multis ale modelling strategies for
heterogeneous materials. Computational Te hnology Reviews, 2010.

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