Advances in Computational Materials Micro-Mechanics

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, progress in the micro-/nano-characterization of experimental materials and the increased affordability of high-performance computing (HPC) have favoured the development of extensive research in computational materials micromechanics, which now effectively supports the development of novel high-performance materials for multifunctional engineering applications.

Investigations in this field focus on elucidating the tight relationships between material microstructures, the micro-mechanisms governing their behaviour, and their effective macroscopic properties in real service conditions. The interest in characterizing the structure–property relationships has recently been extended to the consideration of manufacturing processes and parameters as valuable input elements to be included in the process of materials development: conditions for a top-down approach to the design of advanced materials and components, where process parameters can be directly related to the desired properties, can then be envisaged.

In many of the studies in this field, microstructural analyses are based on the explicit full-scale simulation of the micro-mechanical behaviour of the material constituents (fibres, inclusions, and matrix in composite materials; individual crystals in polycrystalline materials; aggregates in cementitious materials, etc.) and of the interfaces between such entities, which often constitute the source of complex non-linear physical phenomena.

The computational modelling of the microscale requires detailed multi-physics description of the material constituents. This poses formidable challenges from the modelling point of view, ranging from the inclusion of adequate constitutive descriptions to the selection of the most suitable numerical method for effective simulation. Further complexity arises when the study of highly non-linear phenomena (e.g., micro-damage and micro-cracking, phase transformations) are of interest. The analysis of such aspects often requires the development of ad-hoc computational strategies able to address potential issues (e.g., damage localization, mesh-dependency) while ensuring robustness and predictive ability. Reliable micro-structural analyses are often the enabling item for the development of effective multi-scale methods.

This Special Issue is aimed at exploring recent advances in the above-described and rapidly evolving multi-disciplinary field. Contributions focused on elucidating, through modelling, physical aspects of materials behaviour or addressing the development of new mathematical/computational techniques for effective materials modelling are invited. Articles related to the application of emerging methodologies/technologies to materials computational micro-mechanics (virtual element method, phase-field modelling, artificial intelligence, machine learning and surrogate modelling, etc.) are welcome, as are contributions describing the use of computational methods in the design of novel high-performance materials for advanced engineering applications.

The Guest Editors of this Special Issue are also leading a mini-symposium entitled Advances in Computational Materials Micro-Mechanics, to be held at the next ICCES 2020 (26^th International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences) - http://www.iccesconf.org/, Budva, Montenegro/26–30 April 2020. Contributions to this event will be also considered as potential manuscripts for the Special Issue.

Prof. Ivano Benedetti
Prof. Fabrice Barbe
Prof. Antonio Caggiano
Guest Editors

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