arXiv subjects

Brandon Talamini

Publications and source records attributed to Brandon Talamini.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Implicit Lagrangian Hydrodynamics with High-Order Finite Elements

We present an implicit time integration capability for high-order curvilinear finite element Lagrangian hydrodynamics. Starting from an existing explicit formulation, the implicit treatment builds directly on the original discretization and operator structure and does not alter the underlying spatial formulation or physics model. We demonstrate our implementation using the Laghos miniapp, which is built on the MFEM finite element library. To support gradient-based nonlinear solution methods, we compute Jacobian actions automatically using MFEM's $\partial$FEM interface together with Enzyme-based automatic differentiation, and apply the resulting Jacobian in a matrix-free or fully-assembled manner within a Newton-Krylov solver. To ensure robust and differentiable nonlinear solves in the presence of shocks, we introduce a smooth artificial viscosity treatment based on smooth approximations of non-differentiable pointwise operations. The differentiable artificial viscosity presently lacks a limiter to ensure high-order scaling away from shocks, but is sufficient for illustrating the benefits of implicit Lagrangian hydrodynamics. The behavior and performance of the implicit method are demonstrated on several standard benchmark problems. We verify high-order convergence on the smooth Taylor-Green vortex in the absence of artificial viscosity, show correct strong-shock behavior on the Sedov blast problem, and obtain significant improvements in accuracy-per-time-to-solution on the Triple Point problem where explicit stability constraints become increasingly severe for high-order discretizations.

physics.comp-ph↗

arXiv2025

Capturing the fractocohesive length scale through a gradient-enhanced damage model for elastomers

This study aims to unravel the micro-mechanical underpinnings of the emergence of the fractocohesive length scale as a central concept in modern fracture mechanics. A thermodynamically consistent damage and fracture model for elastomers is developed, incorporating elements of polymer chain statistical mechanics. This approach enables the direct incorporation of polymer chain response into a continuum gradient enhanced damage formulation, that in turn allows a physically meaningful description of diffuse chain damage and corresponding fracture events. Through a series of numerical experiments, we simulate crack propagation and extract the fracture energy as an output of the model, while keeping track of the micromechanical signatures of diffuse chain damage that accommodate fracture propagation. Furthermore, we investigate flaw sensitivity and demonstrate that when flaw sizes are smaller than a critical length scale, the material response becomes largely insensitive to notch size. Finally, by combining the fracture toughness and the work to rupture, we identify a fractocohesive length of the material, corresponding to the full width of the damage zone and representing the region where the irreversible dissipation process (i.e., bond scission) is happening. As this region is dictated in the proposed FED model through the introduction of a length scale associated with the non-local nature of the damage and fracture process, the emerging relationship of the two length scales is discussed, effectively connecting the microscopic characteristics of damage to the effective macroscopic response.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2025

Differentiable Lagrangian Shock Hydrodynamics with Application to Stable Shock Acceleration of Density Interfaces

We develop a gradient based optimization approach for the equations of compressible, Lagrangian hydrodynamics and demonstrate how it can be employed to automatically uncover strategies to control hydrodynamic instabilities arising from shock acceleration of density interfaces. Strategies for controlling the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) are of great benefit for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) where shock interactions with many small imperfections in the density interface lead to instabilities which rapidly grow over time. These instabilities lead to mixing which, in the case of laser driven ICF, quenches the runaway fusion process ruining the potential for positive energy return. We demonstrate that control of these instabilities can be achieved by optimization of initial conditions with (> 100) parameters. Optimizing over a large parameter space like this is not possible with gradient-free optimization strategies. This requires computation of the gradient of the outputs of a numerical solution to the equations of Lagrangian hydrodynamics with respect to the inputs. We show that the efficient computation of these gradients is made possible via a judicious application of (i) adjoint methods, the exact formal representation of sensitivities involving partial differential equations, and (ii) automatic differentiation (AD), the algorithmic calculation of derivatives of functions. Careful regularization of multiple operators including artificial viscosity and timestep control is required. We perform design optimization of > 100 parameter energy field driving the Richtmyer Meshkov instability showing significant suppression while simultaneously enhancing the acceleration of the interface relative to a nominal baseline case.

math.NA↗

arXiv2025

A chain stretch-based gradient-enhanced model for damage and fracture in elastomers

In this study, we introduce a novel stretch-based gradient-enhanced damage (GED) model that allows the fracture to localize and also captures the development of a physically diffuse damage zone. This capability contrasts with the paradigm of the phase field method for fracture, where a sharp crack is numerically approximated in a diffuse manner. Capturing fracture localization and diffuse damage in our approach is achieved by considering nonlocal effects that encompass network topology, heterogeneity, and imperfections. These considerations motivate the use of a statistical damage function dependent upon the nonlocal deformation state. From this model, fracture toughness is realized as an output. While GED models have been classically utilized for damage modeling of structural engineering materials, they face challenges when trying to capture the cascade from damage to fracture, often leading to damage zone broadening. This deficiency contributed to the popularity of the phase-field method over the GED model for elastomers and other quasi-brittle materials. Other groups have proceeded with damage-based GED formulations that prove identical to the phase-field method (Lorentz et al., 2012), but these inherit the aforementioned limitations. To address this issue in a thermodynamically consistent framework, we implement two modeling features (a nonlocal driving force bound and a simple relaxation function) specifically designed to capture the evolution of a physically meaningful damage field and the simultaneous localization of fracture, thereby overcoming a longstanding obstacle in the development of these nonlocal strain- or stretch-based approaches. We discuss several numerical examples to understand the features of the approach at the limit of incompressibility, and compare them to the phase-field method as a benchmark for the macroscopic response and fracture energy predictions.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2022

A statistical mechanics framework for polymer chain scission, based on the concepts of distorted bond potential and asymptotic matching

To design increasingly tough, resilient, and fatigue-resistant elastomers and hydrogels, the relationship between controllable network parameters at the molecular level to macroscopic quantities that govern damage and failure must be established. Constitutive models based upon statistical mechanics have used variants of the freely jointed chain (FJC) model with rigid links. However, since the free energy state of a polymer chain is dominated by enthalpic bond distortion effects as the chain approaches its rupture point, bond extensibility ought to be accounted for if the model is intended to capture chain rupture. To that end, a new bond potential is supplemented to the FJC model (as derived in the uFJC framework of Buche and colleagues), which we have extended to yield a tractable, closed-form model that is amenable to constitutive model development. Inspired by the asymptotically matched uFJC model response, a simple, quasi-polynomial, and anharmonic bond potential energy function is derived. Using this bond potential, approximate yet highly-accurate analytical functions for bond stretch and chain force dependent upon chain stretch are established. Then, using this polymer chain model, a stochastic thermal fluctuation-driven chain rupture framework is developed. This framework is based upon a force-modified tilted bond potential that accounts for distortional bond potential energy, allowing for the calculation of dissipated chain scission energy. The model is fit to single-chain mechanical response data collected from atomic force microscopy tensile tests for validation and to glean deeper insight into the molecular physics taking place. Due to their analytical nature, this polymer chain model and the associated rupture framework can be straightforwardly implemented in finite element models accounting for fracture and fatigue in polydisperse elastomer networks.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2021

A Variational Phase-Field Model For Ductile Fracture with Coalescence Dissipation

A novel phase-field for ductile fracture model is presented. The model is developed within a consistent variational framework in the context of finite-deformation kinematics. A novel coalescence dissipation introduces a new coupling mechanism between plasticity and fracture by degrading the fracture toughness as the equivalent plastic strain increases. The proposed model is compared with a recent alternative where plasticity and fracture are strongly coupled. Several representative numerical examples motivate specific modeling choices. In particular, a linear crack geometric function provides an "unperturbed" ductile response prior to crack initiation, and Lorentz-type degradation functions ensure that the critical fracture strength remains independent of the phase-field regularization length. In addition, the response of the model is demonstrated to converge with a vanishing phase-field regularization length. The model is then applied to calibrate and simulate a three-point bending experiment of an aluminum specimen with a complex geometry. The effect of the proposed coalescence dissipation coupling on simulations of the experiment is first investigated in a two-dimensional plane strain setting. The calibrated model is then applied to a three-dimensional calculation, where the calculated load-deflection curves and the crack trajectory show excellent agreement with experimental observations. Finally, the model is applied to simulate crack nucleation and growth in a specimen from a recent Sandia Fracture Challenge.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2017

Progressive damage and rupture in polymers

Progressive damage, which eventually leads to failure, is ubiquitous in biological and synthetic polymers. The simplest case to consider is that of elastomeric materials, which can undergo large reversible deformations with negligible rate dependence. In this paper, we develop a theory for modeling progressive damage and rupture of such materials. We extend the phase-field method, which is widely used to describe the damage and fracture of brittle materials, to elastomeric materials undergoing large deformations. A central feature of our theory is the recognition that the free energy of elastomers is not entirely entropic in nature---there is also an energetic contribution from the deformation of the bonds in the chains. It is the energetic part in the free energy which is the driving force for progressive damage and fracture.

cond-mat.soft↗