A voxel-based remeshing framework for the simulation of arbitrary three-dimensional crack growth in heterogeneous materials

A framework for the simulation of fully arbitrary three-dimensional crack growth in heterogeneous materials is proposed. The framework relies on iteratively updating a voxel-based representation of a heterogeneous material and crack surface. The voxel-based framework operates by generating a conformal surface mesh from the voxel-based representation, optionally smoothing the surface mesh to mitigate stair-stepped boundaries, creating a volume mesh from the surface mesh, and duplicating (thus, releasing) nodes upon the predicted crack surface. The voxel-based framework is highly robust and flexible, which is substantiated by three proof-ofconcept simulations demonstrating: (1) intergranular and transgranular crack growth, (2) flexibility in crack-growth criterion and constitutive model, (3) realistically complex crack surfaces, and (4) the interaction of multiple cracks (e.g. coalescing cracks). The method proposed offers a relatively simple and direct way to simulate crack-growth in heterogeneous materials, where the trade-off is that the accuracy of the mesh is bounded by the user-specified voxel resolution.