Numerical simulation of deformation and fracture in a coated material using curvilinear regular meshes

This paper presents a computational analysis of the deformation and fracture mechanisms of a material with a porous polysilazane coating under tension and compression. A dynamic boundary-value problem in the plane strain statement is solved numerically by the finite-difference method. The coating-substrate interface and porous coating microstructure corresponded to configurations found experimentally are accounted for explicitly in the calculations. For this purpose an algorithm for curvilinear finite-difference meshing based on the solution of the elasticity theory has been developed. The algorithm implemented offers several benefits over the rectilinear meshing. Local regions experiencing bulk tension are shown to form along pore surfaces that control the fracture mechanisms at the mesoscale level.