A Preview of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Additive Manufacturing Modeling Challenge Series

The Air Force Research Laboratory Additive Manufacturing (AM) Modeling Challenge Series is a portion of a larger program focused on including material heterogeneity within design systems for AM. The overall interest is to be able to predict, locally resolved, the internal structure and resultant performance of metallic components produced by AM. The challenge problems themselves are formulated similar to the successful Sandia Fracture Challenge, which has executed three such challenges. Challenge problems are divided into one of two categories and one of two scales. The first two challenges are within the Processing-to-Structure category, and the second two challenges are within the Structure-to-Properties category, indicating what information is provided and what information is to be simulated/predicted. In each category, one challenge focuses on macroscopic aggregate behavior and the other focuses on microscopic/local behavior. Additional challenges are currently being developed and will be modified as results of the first challenges become clear.