Direct sensitivity analysis on the parameterization of crystal plasticity models

• Sensitivity analysis (SA) was performed directly on the crystal plasticity results using the elementary effects test (EET) method, avoiding errors commonly introduced when using surrogate-based approaches. • This proposed direct framework, enabled by a GPU implementation of crystal plasticity, effectively captures the non-linear influence of parameterization on the material’s mechanical response. • An efficient methodology is presented for future calibration and SA of crystal plasticity model parameters. • The study also reveals that parameters contribution to uncertainty in single crystals are strongly governed by the number of active slip systems. Various methods for calibrating crystal plasticity finite element (CPFE) models lead to non-unique input parameter values, which subsequently introduce uncertainty in the predicted mechanical response. Sensitivity analysis (SA) conducted on crystal plasticity models is used to identify how variability in these parameters contribute to output uncertainty. Traditional SA on CPFE parameters uses simplified surrogate models to save computational time. However, the accuracy of the surrogate models depends on the quantity of training data used, and any modeling error can propagate into the SA results, potentially affecting their reliability. In this work, the elementary effects test (EET) method, a global SA technique using direct CPFE simulations was employed, and the results obtained were compared with the First Order Second Moment (FOSM) method. ExaConstit, an open-source GPU-enabled CPFE code, was used to perform the simulations and direct SA. The EET method was accurately able to capture the non-linear effects of all the input parameters on the output and is a valuable approach for reliably attributing parameter sensitivities in CPFE models. Based on the results, efficient strategies to perform future parameter calibration and SA are discussed. Additionally, the SA trends observed in different single crystal orientations closely mirrored the activity of the slip systems.