arXiv subjects

Andrei Constantinescu

Publications and source records attributed to Andrei Constantinescu.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Statistically equivalent surrogate material models and the impact of random imperfections on elasto-plastic response

Manufactured materials usually contain random imperfections due to the fabrication process, e.g., the 3D-printing, casting, etc. These imperfections affect significantly the effective material properties and result in uncertainties in the mechanical response. Numerical analysis of the effects of the imperfections and the uncertainty quantification (UQ) can be often done by use of digital stochastic surrogate material models. In this work, we present a new flexible class of surrogate models depending on a small number of parameters with special focus on two-phase materials. The surrogate models are constructed as the level-set of a linear combination of an intensity field representing the topological shape and a Gaussian perturbation representing the imperfections. The mathematical design parameters of the model are related to physical ones and thus easy to interpret. The calibration of the model parameters is performed using progressive batching sub-sampled quasi-Newton minimization, using a designed distance measure between the synthetic samples and the data. Then, employing a fast sampling algorithm, an arbitrary number of synthetic samples can be generated to use in Monte Carlo type methods. In particular, we illustrate the method in application to UQ of the elasto-plastic response of an imperfect octet-truss lattice which plays an important role in additive manufacturing. To this end, we study the effective material properties of the lattice unit cell under elasto-plastic deformations and investigate the sensitivity of the effective Young's modulus to the imperfections.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Proportional Representation under Single-Crossing Preferences Revisited

We study the complexity of determining a winning committee under the Chamberlin--Courant voting rule when voters' preferences are single-crossing on a line, or, more generally, on a median graph (this class of graphs includes, e.g., trees and grids). For the line, Skowron et al. (2015) describe an $O(n^2mk)$ algorithm (where $n$, $m$, $k$ are the number of voters, the number of candidates and the committee size, respectively); we show that a simple tweak improves the time complexity to $O(nmk)$. We then improve this bound for $k=Ω(\log n)$ by reducing our problem to the $k$-link path problem for DAGs with concave Monge weights, obtaining a $nm2^{O\left(\sqrt{\log k\log\log n}\right)}$ algorithm for the general case and a nearly linear algorithm for the Borda misrepresentation function. For trees, we point out an issue with the algorithm proposed by Clearwater, Puppe and Slinko (2015), and develop a $O(nmk)$ algorithm for this case as well. For grids, we formulate a conjecture about the structure of optimal solutions, and describe a polynomial-time algorithm that finds a winning committee if this conjecture is true; we also explain how to convert this algorithm into a bicriterial approximation algorithm whose correctness does not depend on the conjecture.

cs.GT↗

arXiv2020

Shape-shifting panel from 3d-printed undulated ribbon lattice

Materials that change their shape in response to external stimuli opens up new prospects for efficient and versatile design and shaping of three-dimensional objects. Here, we present a novel class of micro-structures exhibiting an extension-bending coupling (EBC) effect, that can be harnessed as an elementary building block for shape-shifting panels. They are built with a single material as a network of undulated ribbons. The deformations mechanisms of both single and connected undulated ribbons are analysed using the finite element method to explain the main features of the EBC mechanism. For a particular micro-structure of the proposed class, the complete elastic stiffness tensor is computed combining two-scale homogenization with Kirchhoff-Love plate theory. The range of achievable EBC ratio is then assessed with respect to the geometric parameters of the unit cell. Patterned specimens are manufactured using a commercial FFF Ultimaker 3-d printer and are mechanically tested at finite strain up to 20%. The displacement measured by point tracking match the predictions from the finite element simulations and indicate that the structure maintain its properties at finite strain. Moreover, a tensile test load with point-like boundary is proposed to highlight exceptional out of plane displacement. We envision these structures to be leveraged in combination with responsive materials for the actuation of soft robots, compliant systems and reconfigurable structures, as alternatives to external mechanical motors, control systems and power devices.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2020

Systematic two-scale image analysis of extreme deformations in soft architectured sheets

The multi-scale nature of architectured materials raises the need for advanced experimental methods suitable for the identification of their effective properties, especially when their size is finite and they undergo extreme deformations. The present work demonstrates that state-of-the art image processing methods combined with numerical and analytical models provide a comprehensive quantitative description of these solids and their global behaviour, including the influence of the boundary conditions, of the manufacturing process, and of geometric and constitutive non-linearities. To this end, an adapted multi-scale digital image correlation analysis is used to track both elongations and rotations of particular features of the unit cell at the local and global (homogenized) scale of the material. This permits to observe with unprecedented clarity the strains for various unit cells in the structure and to detect global deformation patterns and heterogeneities of the homogenized strain distribution. This method is here demonstrated on elastic sheets undergoing extreme longitudinal and shear deformations. These experimental results are compared to non-linear finite element simulations, which are also used to evaluate the effects of manufacturing imperfections on the response. A skeletal representation of the architectured solid is then extracted from the experiments and used to create a purely-kinematic truss-hinge model that can accurately capture its behaviour. The analysis proposed in this work can be extended to guide the design of two-dimensional architectured solids featuring other regular, quasi-regular or graded patterns, and subjected to other types of loads.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

A statistical framework for generating microstructures of two-phase random materials: application to fatigue analysis

Random microstructures of heterogeneous materials play a crucial role in the material macroscopic behavior and in predictions of its effective properties. A common approach to modeling random multiphase materials is to develop so-called surrogate models approximating statistical features of the material. However, the surrogate models used in fatigue analysis usually employ simple microstructure, consisting of ideal geometries such as ellipsoidal inclusions, which generally does not capture complex geometries. In this paper, we introduce a simple but flexible surrogate microstructure model for two-phase materials through a level-cut of a Gaussian random field with covariance of Matérn class. Such parametrization of the covariance function allows for the representation of a few key design parameters while representing the geometry of inclusions in a more general setting for a large class of random heterogeneous two-phase media. In addition to the traditional morphology descriptors such as porosity, size and aspect ratio, it provides control of the regularity of the inclusions interface and sphericity. These parameters are estimated from a small number of real material images using Bayesian inversion. An efficient process of evaluating the samples, based on the Fast Fourier Transform, makes possible the use of Monte-Carlo methods to estimate statistical properties for the quantities of interest in a given material class. We demonstrate the overall framework of the use of the surrogate material model in application to the uncertainty quantification in fatigue analysis, its feasibility and efficiency, and its role in the microstructure design.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2018

Design of multi-layer materials using inverse homogenization and a level set method

This work is concerned with the micro-architecture of multi-layer material that globally exhibits desired mechanical properties, for instance a negative apparent Poisson ratio. We use inverse homogenization, the level set method, and the shape derivative in the sense of Hadamard to identify material regions and track boundary changes within the context of the smoothed interface. The level set method and the shape derivative obtained in the smoothed interface context allows to capture, within the unit cell, the optimal micro-geometry. We test the algorithm by computing several multi-layer auxetic micro-structures. The multi-layer approach has the added benefit that contact during movement of adjacent "branches" of the micro-structure can be avoided in order to increase its capacity to withstand larger stresses.

math.OC↗