Multi-scale Modeling and Evolutionary Optimization for Multi-Contact Heterogeneous Materials

在过去的十年中，我们目睹了智能材料应用的巨大技术进步和材料前沿的新范式。一些例子包括在通信和汽车工业中使用光缆，在陆地和空间探索中使用轻质能量收集材料，以及在生物医学应用中使用生物相容性异质材料。许多这样的系统被表征为多接触异质材料（MCHM），由非线性材料的介观结构组成。由于相互作用的材料行为的复杂性，包括在多尺度的细观/宏观层面上的接触，需要数值工具，如有限元方法来模拟MCHM的行为。现有文献中的大部分工作都集中在使用均匀化渐近展开处理周期性微尺度水平。这些方法假设平均宏观行为在微观层面上，因此不能用于介观宏观系统，如那些MCHM。目前对这种系统的损坏分析是不够的，主要是基于试错法，这破坏了其结构完整性和可靠性。因此，材料进步及其未来发现的进展取决于从根本上理解此类系统行为的能力，以及开发能够增强其结构完整性和/或功能的工具的能力。拟议的研究计划的短期目标将通过三个主题进行，重点是（i）使用多尺度建模及其求解技术开发MCHM的新的中-宏观尺度公式，以解决中-宏观域和接触的强耦合，（ii）开发最佳中/宏观尺度结构形状和拓扑结构的进化优化工具，以及（iii）验证，通过数值和实验程序验证和应用所开发的多尺度建模技术。**这项工作应该扩大对MCHM行为的基本和深入理解，并提供先进的多尺度数值建模和优化工具，以实现更好的多功能设计，并探索此类系统的新应用。该研究计划有可能使加拿大的研究和工业在开发具有优化和/或调整功能的可靠和轻质材料方面处于领先地位，涵盖汽车，能源，通信和航空航天工业以及生物医学工程中现有和未来的广泛工程应用，这些都是当今竞争激烈的经济中至关重要的。在这项研究计划中，共有7名研究生（4名博士，3名硕士）和10名本科生将在MCHM的多尺度建模和材料表征领域接受培训，这在学术界和工业界都是非常可取的。

During the past ten years, we have been witnessing great technological advancements and new paradigms of material frontiers for intelligent material applications. A few examples include the use of optic cables in communication and automotive industries, light weight energy harvest materials in terrestrial and space exploration, and biocompatible heterogeneous materials in biomedical applications. Many such systems are characterized as multi-contact heterogeneous materials (MCHM), consisting of meso-structures of non-linear materials.*******Due to the complexity of the interacting material behaviour including contact at multi-scale meso/macro levels, numerical tools such as finite element methods are needed to simulate the behaviour of MCHM. Most of the existing work in literature is focused on treating periodic micro-scale levels using homogenization asymptotic expansions. These methods assume averaged macro behaviour at the micro level and therefore cannot be used for meso-macro systems such as those of the MCHM. The current damage analysis of such systems is insufficient and mainly based on trial and error, which undermines their structural integrity and reliability. Therefore, the progress in material advancements and their future discoveries depend on the ability to fundamentally understand the behaviour of such systems and develop tools capable of enhancing their structural integrity and/or functionality.*******The short term objectives of the proposed research program will be conducted by three themes, focusing on the (i) development of novel meso-macro scale formulations for MCHM using multi-scale modeling and their solution techniques to solve the strong coupling of the meso-macro domains and contact, (ii) development of an evolutionary optimization tool for optimum meso/macro scale structure shape and topology, and (iii) verification, validation and application of the developed multi-scale modeling techniques through numerical and experimental programs.*******This work should expand the fundamental and in-depth understanding of MCHM behaviour and provide advanced multi-scale numerical modeling and optimization tools towards better multi-functional designs and explore new applications of such systems.*******This research program has the potential to place Canadian research and industry in a leading position in the development of reliable and lightweight materials with optimized and/or tuned functionalities, covering a wide range of existing and future engineering applications in the automotive, energy, communication and aerospace industries as well as biomedical engineering, which are all vital in today's competitive economy.*******During this research program, a total of 7 graduate students (4 PhDs, 3 MASc) and 10 undergraduate students will be trained in the area of multi-scale modeling and material characterization of MCHM, highly desirable in academia and industry.***