A high-performance computational framework for fast crystal plasticity simulations

•A hybrid CPU–GPU architecture for tractable multi-scale metal forming simulations is presented.•A new spectral crystal plasticity implementation on a GPU card is developed.•Speedups exceeding three orders of magnitude are demonstrated.

We present a new computational framework aimed at dramatically reducing time needed for crystal plasticity simulations. The framework is based on a combination of the recently developed numerical implementations of crystal plasticity in the spectral representation for obtaining the response of single crystals and specialized computer hardware that integrates a graphics-processing unit (GPU). Following a divide and conquer approach adapted here from a fast GPU8 method for matrix operations, we describe a new GPU based implementation of the spectral crystal plasticity and demonstrate its performances through a few example case studies involving a Taylor-type polycrystalline model. Using a single GPU card, the novel framework described herein provides speedup factors exceeding three orders of magnitude over the conventional crystal plasticity numerical schemes.