Modelling Nonlinear Materials with

COMSOL Multiphysics®
Robbie Balcombe
Technical Manager,
COMSOL UK
Agenda

 Introduction to COMSOL Multiphysics®

 Nonlinear materials in COMSOL Multiphysics®
 Structural analysis and Multiphysics
 Modelling examples
 Live demonstration
 Next steps and further resources

Pressure vessel with

orthotropic yield function
COMSOL Multiphysics®
Classification of Material Models

Elastic Inelastic

Small strains Large strains Time independent Time dependent

• Linear elastic • Hyperelastic • Plasticity • Creep

• Nonlinear elastic • Viscoelastic • Soil plasticity • Viscoplasticity
• Viscoelastic • Porous plasticity
• Piezoelectric • Shape memory alloy
• Magnetostrictive • Damage
• Concrete
• Rocks
• Elastoplastic soil
Nonlinear Structural Materials Module

 Adds several nonlinear material model families:

Nonlinear elastic
Large strain viscoelasticity
Hyperelastic
Elastoplastic
Porous plasticity
Creep and viscoplasticity
Shape memory alloys

Necking of a metal bar. This example is a classical

benchmark for large strain plastic deformation
Geomechanics Module

 Adds several nonlinear material model

families:
Elastoplastic soil materials
Soil plasticity models
Concrete models
Rock models
Plasticity for ductile materials and
saturated soils
Nonlinear elastic materials for ductile
materials and soils Deep excavation example
Creep models
Nonlinear Elastic Materials

 Small strains assumed

 Bulk modulus, K, is a function of elastic
volumetric strain
 Shear modulus, G, is a function of elastic
shear strain
 Scalar elastic shear strain, gel:
Hyperelastic Materials

 Hyperelastic Material Models

Selection of compressible, nearly
incompressible and incompressible
models available
Large-Strain Viscoelasticity

 An extension to hyperelasticity
 Similar to the linear viscoelastic
material
Generalised Maxwell
SLS
Kelvin-Voigt
Time-shift functions
• WLF
• Arrhenius
Elastoplastic Materials

 Two formulations
Small plastic strains
Large plastic strains (say > 10%)

 Small plastic strains: additive decomposition of strains

Engineering or Green-Lagrange strain tensors
(depending on geometric nonlinearity being on/off)

 Large plastic strains: multiplicative decomposition of

deformation gradient tensor
Porous Plasticity

 Significant porosity and volume changes

Powder compaction
Creep

 Continuous deformation under constant load

Metals at elevated temperatures
Rule of thumb: T > 0.5∙Tmelt

 Strain rate is explicit function of:

Stress
Temperature
Time (for primary creep)

 Inertial effects are not interesting due to the

time scale
Use quasistatic formulation
Viscoplasticity

 Time dependent, with similarities to

creep
Strain rate is a function of stress

 There is often a yield stress, below

which all deformation is elastic
 Can have time scales faster than what is
common for creep
Note that the Johnson–Cook model for
high-strain-rate plastic deformation
resides under Plasticity
Shape Memory Alloy

 Special alloys that have a “memory”

(smart metal; memory metal)
Nitinol
 A permanent “plastic” deformation
can be removed by heating the
object
 Phase transformation between
martensite and austenite
User Defined Material Models
 Equation- based modelling
 PDE formulation
 Distributed ODEs
 Additive physics
 Inelastic strains
 External materials
C-code; shared libraries
External Material

 C or other progamming language

 Compile to library, which can be
distributed
Nonlinear Material Modelling Options

 Enable nonlinear material effects

in chosen domains of a model

 Combine different material

nonlinearities in one domain
• Plasticity + creep
• Creep + creep
• Thermal expansion + creep +
plasticity
• Non-linear elasticity + thermal
expansion + plasticity + creep

Stress in viscoplastic solder joints

Demo Model: Necking of a Bar

 Elastoplastic bar model with large strain plasticity

z displacement
Stress/Strain Curve
Further Resources
to Get Started
comsol.com
Contact Us
uk.comsol.com/contact