A spectral method solution to crystal elasto-viscoplasticity at finite strains

A significant improvement over existing models for the prediction of the macromechanical response of structural materials can be achieved by means of a more refined treatment of the underlying micromechanics. For this, achieving the highest possible spatial resolution is advantageous, in order to capture the intricate details of complex microstructures. Spectral methods, as an efficient alternative to the widely used finite element method (FEM), have been established during the last decade and their applicability to the case of polycrystalline materials has already been demonstrated. However, until now, the existing implementations were limited to infinitesimal strain and phenomenological crystal elasto-viscoplasticity. This work presents the extension of the existing spectral formulation for polycrystals to the case of finite strains, not limited to a particular constitutive law, by considering a general material model implementation. By interfacing the exact same material model to both, the new spectral implementation as well as a FEM-based solver, a direct comparison of both numerical strategies is possible. Carrying out this comparison, and using a phenomenological constitutive law as example, we demonstrate that the spectral method solution converges much faster with mesh/grid resolution, fulfills stress equilibrium and strain compatibility much better, and is able to solve the micromechanical problem for, e.g., a 2563 grid in comparable times as required by a 643 mesh of linear finite elements.

► Extension of a spectral method to finite strains useful for crystal micro mechanics.
► Identical material model in comparison of finite element and spectral method solutions.
► Convergence with mesh/grid is faster than FEM.
► Stress equilibrium and strain compatibility is fulfilled much better.
► Computation time of 2563 grid comparable to that of 643 linear finite elements.