An adaptive phase-field simulation for hydrogen embrittlement fracture with multi-patch isogeometric method

Abstract

This work proposes a phase-field framework for hydrogen-assisted failures of brittle materials using multi-patch isogeometric modeling, considering the effects of hydrogen concentration field evolution and concentration accumulation on material fracture behavior. A phase-field fracture formulation for stress-assisted hydrogen diffusion is derived within the framework of multi-patch IGA and applied to the simulation of hydrogen embrittlement fracture phenomenons in complex structural metallic materials. Nitsche’s method imposes continuous conditions to handle the coupling between interfaces, ensuring compatibility between patches and continuity of variables on the coupling edges. In response to the excessive computational burden of the phase-field method, a refinement-correction loop adaptive strategy based on combined refinement indicators is proposed to improve computational efficiency. Several numerical examples are compared with reference cases to verify the proposed model’s effectiveness, and the adaptive strategy’s performance is tested in simulating hydrogen embrittlement failure.