RVEtool for defects

Description

RVEtool is a modeling package for synthetic data generation of micromechanical models based on fiber-reinforced material using High-Performance Computing environments. The package is able to generate, mesh and run finite element based models and it is structured with the following modules:

• RVE_gen: It contains .npz files which are generated by specific algorithms for the generation of RVEs.
• RVE_mesher: Gmsh as submodule and main 2-d and 3-d finite element mesh generator with built-in pre processing capabilities.
• RVE_solver: Alya multiphysics as the main FEA solver for High-Performance Computing.

RVE_gen main features:

• Only .npz files are supported.

RVE_mesher main features (Gmsh):

• 2-d and 3-d meshes with linear quadrilaterals/hexahedron elements.
• Generation of the full Periodic Boundary Conditions (PBCs) based on master-slave nodes (Garoz et al. 2019).
• Coordinates correction at boundary nodes used for PBCs.
• Option to generate zero-thickness cohesive elements between fibers and the matrix.

RVE_solver main features (Alya multiphysics):

• Sequential (ASCII) format or parallel I/O (MPIO).
• Parallel mesh partitioning.
• Iterative solvers for symmetric and unsymmetric matrices.

Pre-requisites

Step 1: Install Python3.0

• Download Python.
• After its installation, open Terminal (macOS) or Command prompt (Windows) and go to the root of the folder and type the following command:

python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Step 2: Install Gmsh

• Download Gmsh software.
• Double-click the downloaded file and follow the installation wizard to finish the installation.
• Add this in your PATH:

export PATH=`gmsh_path:$PATH

Step 3: Update submodules RVEtool uses a specific RVE generator not available as opensource. Source code can be shared with permission from the owner. Submodules are updated with the following command:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Usage

The repository contains a main file RVEtool.py which loads a yaml file containing all the user inputs.

Output models

The RVE model generated here referred to as jobName is stored in the output folder. This folder is generated automatically if no exists. The user can define the number of load case scenarios for the RVE jobName. The current load cases are derived from transversally isotropic materials and they are the following:

2D models:

• Transverse tension (11 componenent)
• Transverse tension (22 componenent)
• In-plane shear (12 component)

3D models:

• Longitudinal tension (11 component)
• Transverse tension (22 componenent)
• In-plane shear (12 component)
• Out-of-plane shear (23 compomnent)

An example of the resulting directory (3D model) for the output folder is the following:

.
rvetool\
      outputs\
            jobName\
               ├──  gen\ is the folder containing the CAD file and info of the RVE generated. 
               ├──  msh\ is the folder containing the mesh files
   │     │     │     ├── jobName.dims.dat 
   │     │     │     ├── jobName.mat.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName.fie.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName.geo.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName.set.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName.fix.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName.per.dat
   │     │     │     └── ...             
   │     │     ├── jobName-11\ is the longitudinal tension case
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-11.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-11.ker.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-11.dom.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-11.sld.dat
   │     │     │     └── jobName-11.post.alyadat 
   │     │     ├── jobName-22\ is the transverse tension case
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-22.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-22.ker.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-22.dom.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-22.sld.dat
   │     │     │     └── jobName-22.post.alyadat 
   │     │     ├── jobName-12\ is the in-plane shear case
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-12.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-12.ker.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-12.dom.dat
   │     │     │     ├── jobName-12.sld.dat
   │     │     │     └── jobName-12.post.alyadat 
   │     │     └── jobName-23\ is the out-of-plane shear case
   │     │           ├── jobName-23.dat
   │     │           ├── jobName-23.ker.dat
   │     │           ├── jobName-23.dom.dat
   │     │           ├── jobName-23.sld.dat
   │     │           └── jobName-23.post.alyadat 
   │     └── ...
   └── README.md The main readme\