Integrated Computational Materials Engineering Research

Multiscale Modeling in a Multi-Physics Context

What’s Involved in this Research?

This project uses multiscale modeling in a multi-physics context using a high-performance computing environment to predict the Chemistry-Process-Structure-Property-Performance (CPSPP) sequence.

Multiscale modeling started in the 1980s at the national labs in order to the predict structural performance of different materials. In the 1990s, as the need to model the structure-property relationships were added, temperature effects became a key addition. In the early 2000s, corrosion was added to analyze multiphysics performance environments. In the 2010s, both electricity and magnetism were added to an already complicated set of constitutive relations that included multiscale and history-dependent variables. Nuclear, acoustic, and optical energy sources are also required to capture the full multiphysics interactions in order to completely model the CPSPP sequence in a variety of performance environments.

In order to model the aging of a nuclear plant, one must be able to analyze and design an engineered system consisting of a nuclear, corrosive, temperature changing, mechanically loaded environment. This multiphysics environment requires multiscale aspects like grains, particles, etc. in order to predict the real behavior.

How Students Benefit

By understanding modeling, computational analysis, and experimental procedures a student will learn how the scientific method is used in creating and analyzing a design of an engineering product. Several undergraduate and graduate students have conducted research on this project. The modeling of nuclear irradiation effects on structural components is the next multiscale modeling aspect that needs addressed.

Research Professors

Mark Horstemeyer
B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor
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Dr. Heechen E. Cho
Ph.D., B.S.
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Marcos Lugo
B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
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Impact on Society

This ICME modeling framework can transform any design process for a structural component. The return-on-investments typically lie between 3-7 times.

Articles

Horstemeyer, M.F., Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) for Metals: Reinvigorating Engineering Design with Science, Wiley Press, 2012.

Horstemeyer, M.F., Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) for Metals: Concepts and Case Studies, Wiley Press, 2018.