An optimal scheme for numerical evaluation of Eshelby tensors and its implementation in a MATLAB package for simulating the motion of viscous ellipsoids in slow flows

Abstract

To address the multiscale deformation and fabric development in Earth's ductile lithosphere, micromechanics-based self-consistent homogenization is commonly used to obtain macroscale rheological properties from properties of constituent elements. The homogenization is heavily based on the solution of an Eshelby viscous inclusion in a linear viscous medium and the extension of the solution to nonlinear viscous materials. The homogenization requires repeated numerical evaluation of Eshelby tensors for constituent elements and becomes ever more computationally challenging as the elements are deformed to more elongate or flattened shapes. In this paper, we develop an optimal scheme for evaluating Eshelby tensors, using a combination of a product Gaussian quadrature and the Lebedev quadrature. We first establish, through numerical experiments, an empirical relationship between the inclusion shape and the computational time it takes to evaluate its Eshelby tensors. We then use the relationship to develop an optimal scheme for selecting the most efficient quadrature to obtain the Eshelby tensors. The optimal scheme is applicable to general homogenizations. In this paper, it is implemented in a MATLAB package for investigating the evolution of solitary rigid or deformable inclusions and the development of shape preferred orientations in multi-inclusion systems during deformation. The MATLAB package, upgrading an earlier effort written in MathCad, can be downloaded online.