Numerical integration of rate-independent BCC single crystal plasticity models: comparative study of two classes of numerical algorithms

In an incremental formulation suitable to numerical implementation, the use of rate-independent theory of crystal plasticity essentially leads to four fundamental problems. The first is to determine the set of potentially active slip systems over a time increment. The second is to select the active slip systems among the potentially active ones. The third is to compute the slip rates (or the slip increments) for the active slip systems. And the last problem is the possible non-uniqueness of slip rates. The purpose of this paper is to propose satisfactory responses to the above-mentioned first three issues by presenting and comparing two novel numerical algorithms. The first algorithm is based on the usual return-mapping integration scheme, while the second follows the so-called ultimate scheme. The latter is shown to be more relevant and efficient than the former. These comparative performances are illustrated through various numerical simulations of the mechanical behavior of single crystals and polycrystalline aggregates subjected to monotonic and complex loadings. Although these algorithms are applied in this paper to Body-Centered-Cubic (BCC) crystal structures, they are quite general and suitable for integrating the constitutive equations for other crystal structures (e.g., FCC and HCP)