High-Performance Numerical Modeling of Nanofabrics with Distinct Element Method

Abstract

A universal framework for modeling composites and fabrics of micro-and nanofibers, such as carbon nanotubes, carbon fibers and amyloid fibrils, is presented. Within this framework, fibers are represented with chains of rigid bodies, linked with elastic bonds. Elasticity of the bonds utilizes recently developed enhanced vector model formalism. The type of interactions between fibers is determined by their nature and physical length scale of the simulation. The dynamics of fibers is computed using the modification of rigid particle dynamics module of the waLBerla multiphysics framework. Our modeling system demonstrates exceptionally high parallel performance combined with the physical accuracy of the modeling. The efficiency of our approach is demonstrated with illustrative mechanical test on a hypothetical carbon nanotube textile.