A universal material model subroutine for soft matter systems

Area of Science:

• * Computational mechanics
• * Materials science
• * Biomedical engineering

Background:

• * Soft materials are crucial for autonomy, sustainability, and health, necessitating accurate modeling.
• * Existing finite element analysis (FEA) packages have limited material models, restricting analysis of complex soft materials.
• * Integrating novel material models into FEA requires advanced knowledge of continuum mechanics, tensor algebra, and programming, often leading to errors.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To develop a universal material subroutine that automates the integration of novel constitutive models into non-linear FEA packages.
• * To eliminate the need for additional analytical derivations and algorithmic implementations when incorporating new material models.
• * To empower a wider range of users, not just experts, to perform reliable soft material simulations.

Main Methods:

• * Design and implementation of a universal material subroutine for FEA.
• * Automation of the integration process for constitutive models of varying complexity.
• * Validation through diverse soft matter case studies.

Main Results:

• * Successful integration of innovative constitutive models across material point and structural levels.
• * Demonstrated versatility in simulating complex soft material behaviors.
• * Enabled reliable engineering analysis for various soft matter systems.

Conclusions:

• * The universal material subroutine significantly simplifies the incorporation of novel material models in FEA.
• * This framework democratizes advanced soft material simulation, making it accessible to non-experts.
• * The subroutine is poised to become an essential tool for innovation in soft matter research and engineering.