NICE super( )h: a higher-order explicit numerical scheme for integration of constitutive models in plasticity

The article introduces, as a result of further development of the first-order scheme NICE, a simple and efficient higher-order explicit numerical scheme for the integration of a system of ordinary differential equations which is constrained by an algebraic condition (DAE). The scheme is based on the truncated Taylor expansion of the constraint equation with order h of the scheme being determined by the highest exponent in the truncated Taylor series. The integration scheme thus conceived will be named NICE super( )h, considering both principal premises of its construction. In conjunction with a direct solution technique used to solve the boundary value problem, the NICE super( )hscheme is very convenient for integrating constitutive models in plasticity. The plasticity models are defined mostly by a system of algebraic and differential equations in which the yield criterion represents the constraint condition. To study the properties of the new integration scheme, which, like the forward-Euler scheme, is characterised by its implementation simplicity due to the explicitness of its formulations, a damage constitutive model (Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman model) is considered. The general opinion that the implicit backward-Euler scheme is much more accurate than the thus-far known explicit schemes is challenged by the introduction of the NICE super( )hscheme. The accuracy of the higher-order explicit scheme in the studied cases is significantly higher than the accuracy of the classical backward-Euler scheme, if we compare them under the condition of a similar CPU time consumption.