PhaceXL_2D is a script for the generation of finite-thickness interface elements for 2D polycrystal microstructure modelling. It parses a 2D polycrystal microstructure mesh file generated using the Neper software package and modified using the Phon cohesive element generator and shrinks the existing grains by a predefined factor to create finite-thickness interface elements, facilitating the modelling of damage phenomena occuring at the grain boundaries. If the original 2D polycrystal microstructure mesh is periodic, PhaceXL_2D retains mesh periodicity at the boundary of the modelling domain. The resulting mesh is exported in a format readable by Abaqus™ finite-element analysis software or similar preprocessors.

To generate a 2D polycrystal microstructure mesh with finite-thickness interface elements at the grain boundaries, the following steps have to be followed:

1. Generate a 2D polycrystal microstructure mesh using Neper.
2. Export the polycrystal mesh as well as the coordinates of the grain centroids.
3. Use Phon to insert zero-thickness cohesive elements at the grain boundaries.
4. Parse both files in PhaceXL_2D to generate finite-thickness interface elements at the grain boundaries.

Run PhaceXL_2D using   'phaceXL_2D.py -i INPUTFILENAME -c CENTROIDFILENAME -p MPER -s SFACTOR'   from the command line. The following input parameters have to be specified:

INPUTFILENAME:   name of the file containing the polycrystal mesh and cohesive elements generated by Neper and Phon,
CENTROIDFILENAME:   name of the file containing the coordinates of the grain centroids,
MPER:   indication whether the polycrystal microstructure mesh is periodic ('y') or (by default) non-periodic ('n'),
SFACTOR:   factor controlling the amount of shrinkage for each grain (default is 0.1).

PhaceXL_2D has been tested with Python 3.7.2 and NumPy 1.16.2.

An example with files will be added soon...

PhaceXL_2D is licensed under the GNU General Public License.