Computational homogenization of polycrystalline materials with the Virtual Element Method

Homogenized properties of polycrystalline materials are needed in many engineering applications. The present work investigates the effectiveness of computational homogenization approaches based on the Virtual Element Method (VEM). Advantages and/or disadvantages of the VEM formulation with respect to traditional FEM approaches are explored by means of a number of numerical examples. Representative volume elements with different geometrical and material properties are investigated. Both two-and three-dimensional applications, as well as both linear and nonlinear homogenization schemes, are presented. The results show the accuracy of a VEM-based approach. On the contrary, traditional FEM-based homogenization schemes suffer with increasing grains anisotropy, requiring a high number of degree of freedoms for maintaining an acceptable accuracy. In conclusion, VEM is a promising methodology for the homogenization of polycrystalline materials. The advantage of VEM when compared to FEM is of engineering relevance for facing the challenging case of materials with strong and heterogeneous anisotropies. In fact, it is shown that VEM formulations are free from anisotropic locking. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.