Non-linear extension of FFT-based methods accelerated by conjugate gradients to evaluate the mechanical behavior of composite materials

FFT-based methods are used to solve the problem of a heterogeneous unit-cell submitted to periodic boundary conditions, which is of a great interest in the context of numerical homogenization. Recently (in 2010), Brisard and Zeman proposed simultaneously to use Conjugate Gradient based solvers in order to improve the convergence properties (when compared to the basic scheme, proposed initially in 1994). The purpose of the paper is to extend this idea to the case of non-linear behaviors. The proposed method is based on a Newton–Raphson algorithm and can be applied to various kinds of behaviors (time dependant or independent, with or without internal variables) through a conventional integration procedure as used in finite element codes. It must be pointed out that this approach is fundamentally different from the traditional FFT-based approaches which rely on a fixed-point algorithm (e.g. basic scheme, Eyre and Milton accelerated scheme, Augmented Lagrangian scheme, etc.). The method is compared to the basic scheme on the basis of a simple application (a linear elastic spherical inclusion within a non-linear elastic matrix): a low sensitivity to the reference material and an improved efficiency, for a soft or a stiff inclusion, are observed. At first proposed for a prescribed macroscopic strain, the method is then extended to mixed loadings.