An efficient matrix-free preconditioned conjugate gradient based multigrid method for phase field modeling of fracture in heterogeneous materials from 3D images

In this paper, we present a new and efficient strategy to perform 3D computational fracture modeling from computed tomography (CT) images. The image-based fracture modeling creates a new way to more accurately predict fracture in realistic structures. However, it is currently complex and expensive to perform such simulations. In this work, we propose to use a matrix-free type preconditioned conjugate gradient solver based multigrid method to achieve the fastest numerical performance for phase field modeling of fracture. Several specific methods are investigated to enhance the robustness and to improve the efficiency of the proposed strategy. An automatic load control strategy to control crack propagation is investigated. High performance computing is applied using a hybrid MPI/OpenMP strategy. With all of the proposed procedures, the phase field modeling of fracture can be performed in the real 3D microstructure of heterogeneous materials using tomographic images.