2022 Articles

Geometric prior of multi-resolution yielding manifolds and the local closest point projection for nearly non-smooth plasticity

Xiao, Mian; Sun, WaiChing

Elastoplasticity models often introduce a scalar-valued yield function to implicitly represent the boundary between elastic and plastic material states. This paper introduces a new alternative where the yield envelope is represented by a manifold of which the topology and the geometry are learned from a set of data points in a parametric space (e.g. principal stress space, -plane). Here, deep geometric learning enables us to reconstruct a highly complex yield envelope by breaking it down into multiple coordinate charts. The global atlas that consists of these coordinate charts in return allows us to represent the yield surface via multiple overlapping patches, each with a specific local parametrization. This setup provides several advantages over the classical implicit function representation approach. For instance, the availability of coordinate charts enables us to introduce an alternative stress integration algorithm where the trial stress may project directly on a local patch and hence circumvent the issues related to non-smoothness and the lack of convexity of yield surfaces. Meanwhile, the local parametric approach also enables us to predict hardening/softening locally in the parametric space, even without complete knowledge of the yield surface. Comparisons between the classical yield function approach on the non-smooth plasticity and anisotropic cam-clay plasticity model are provided to demonstrate the capacity of the models for highly precise yield surface and the feasibility of the implementation of the learned model in the local stress integration algorithm.