Improving the reliability of material databases using multiscale approaches

TL;DR

This paper presents a multiscale approach to improve the reliability of material databases by reducing uncertainties through simultaneous consideration of data at all scales, demonstrated on composite structures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel database improvement method that leverages multiscale uncertainty information to significantly reduce parameter and structural response uncertainties.

Findings

Substantial uncertainty reduction in constitutive parameters.

Enhanced confidence in structural response predictions.

Effective multiscale uncertainty management demonstrated on composite structures.

Abstract

This article addresses the propagation of constitutive uncertainties between scales occurring in the multiscale modelling of fibre-reinforced composites. The amplification of such uncertainties through upward or downward transitions by a homogenisation model is emphasized and exemplified with the Mori-Tanaka model. In particular, the sensitivity to data uncertainty in the inverse determination of constituent parameters based on downward transitions is stressed on an example. Then a database improvement method, which exploits simultaneously the available information on constitutive uncertainties at all scales instead of just propagating those associated with one scale, is presented and shown to yield substantial reductions in uncertainty for both the constitutive parameters and the response of structures. The latter finding is demonstrated on two examples of structures, with significant gains in confidence obtained on both.