Calibrating a finite-strain phase-field model of fracture for bonded granular materials with uncertainty quantification

A Abigail C. Schmid (Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 1 , Boulder, Colorado,) E Erik Jensen (Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 1 , Boulder, Colorado,) F Fabio Di Gioacchino (Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder 2 , Boulder, Colorado,) P Pooyan B. Javadzadeh (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas 3 , Richardson, Texas,) N Nate E. Peterson (Sigma Manufacturing Science Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory 4 , Los Alamos, New Mexico,) C C. Gus Becker (Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 1 , Boulder, Colorado,) H Hongbing Lu (School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University 3 , Xi'an 710062,) F Fatemeh Pourahmadian (Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 1 , Boulder, Colorado,) A Amy J. Clarke A Alireza Doostan (Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Colorado Boulder 5 , Boulder, Colorado,) R Richard A. Regueiro (Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 1 , Boulder, Colorado,)

Abstract

To study the mechanical behavior of mock high explosives, an experimental and simulation program was developed to calibrate, with quantified uncertainty, a material model of the bonded granular material Idoxuridine and nitroplasticized Estane-5703. This paper reports on the efficacy of such a framework as a generalizable methodology for calibrating material models against experimental data with uncertainty quantification. Additionally, this paper studies the effect of two manufacturing temperatures and three initial granular configurations on the unconfined compressive behavior of the resulting bonded granular materials. In each of these cases, the same calibration framework was used; in that, hundreds of high-fidelity direct numerical simulations using a new, graphics processing unit-enabled, high-performance finite element method software, Ratel, were run to calibrate a finite-strain phase-field fracture model against experimental data. It was found that manufacturing temperature influenced the elastic response of the mock high explosives, with higher temperatures yielding a stiffer response. By contrast, it was found that the initial configuration of the grains had a negligible impact on the overall behavior of the mock high explosives though it remains possible that local damage accumulation within the specimens could be altered by the initial configurations. Overall, the calibration framework was successful at creating well-calibrated models, showing its usefulness as an engineering and scientific tool.

Article Details

Volume / Issue Vol. 138, Issue 23
Published December 21, 2025
ISSN 0021-8979
Publisher American Institute of Physics

Journal Info

Journal of Applied Physics

American Institute of Physics

ISSN: 0021-8979 Physical Sciences

Authors (11)

A

Abigail C. Schmid

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 1 , Boulder, Colorado,

E

Erik Jensen

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 1 , Boulder, Colorado,

F

Fabio Di Gioacchino

Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder 2 , Boulder, Colorado,

P

Pooyan B. Javadzadeh

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas 3 , Richardson, Texas,

N

Nate E. Peterson

Sigma Manufacturing Science Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory 4 , Los Alamos, New Mexico,

C

C. Gus Becker

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 1 , Boulder, Colorado,

H

Hongbing Lu

School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University 3 , Xi'an 710062,

F

Fatemeh Pourahmadian

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 1 , Boulder, Colorado,

A

Amy J. Clarke

A

Alireza Doostan

Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Colorado Boulder 5 , Boulder, Colorado,

R

Richard A. Regueiro

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 1 , Boulder, Colorado,