A multi - scale coupling method to simulate the silica glass behavior under high pressures

The response of glasses subjected to high pressures can be classified into three classes : normal, anomalous and intermediate depending on the deformation mechanism and the cracking pattern. The silica glass which is the scope of this work is a typical anomalous glass. The numerical study of this behavior with continuum methods (e.g. FEM, CNEM) presents several difficulties and drawbacks. Because, this requires a very small scale analysis. The discrete methods (e.g. MD, DEM) represent a good choice to simulate this behavior. However, these methods are very time consuming (CPU-wise). In this work, a discrete-continuum coupling method is proposed to study the behavior of this brittle material subjected to high pressures. The coupling results, obtained in this work, compare favorably with past experimental results.