Finite element modelling of complex 3D image data with quantification and analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how to model aggregated material microstructure and its meshing volumic generation that is provided by any data from 3D tomographic image data. The accurate reconstruction of 3D geometry structures from tomographic images is a powerful method in various application areas of materials science. The resulting mesh can be voxelized or conforming based on volumetric tetrahedral meshing. We investigate this creation depending on improving multiple materials marching cubes algorithm (M3C) with smoothing and remeshing algorithms. Then, a strategy for generating good-quality meshing and its robustness is presented, and this is performed with numerical tests. The novelty of this study is to generate a conforming mesh from complicated topology structures, particularly, when the interfaces of bi-materials are connected. This leads to a reduction in the node count in the generated mesh. The influence of some parameters involved in this algorithm is explored during different levels of meshing. In this work, the numerical homogenization approach from various spherical inclusions in the two-phase system using the algorithm M3C is considered to estimate the effective elastic properties. We created the framework with all the associated information, such as inputs in the format .inp files, to make it possible to run it over the Abaqus solver. Then, the Abaqus model based on the finite element method (FEM) was executed in this case for various material microstructures such as polycrystalline, composite, and fiber. We show the main workflow for providing desired results by visualizing the FEM analysis. We also demonstrate the capabilities of meshing methodology in the solver for these material models. The validation of the local mechanical environment from FEM with loading scenarios is achieved to predict displacements and deformations. Mechanical compression tests are performed to investigate the compressive behavior. Finally, stress-strain curves provided a comparison between simulations and experimental data for materials, and a good agreement is obtained.