36 th Int. Conference on Mechanics of Materials, February 23-27, 2015, Sensbachtal/Germany Advanced methods and procedures for parameter identification of complex material models Marina Franulovic a, *, Robert Basan a a Faculty of Engineering, University of RijekaVukovarska 58, HR-51000 Rijeka, Croatia Abstract Material behavior modeling plays an important role in structural components design and its fatigue analysis. Material models differ in the range of material properties they can describe and proportionally in complexity for their definition. Complex material models are often highly non-linear and their definition is described by formulations of relationship among various variables. They are often characterized by a large number of material parameters that have to be carefully identified to follow material behavior as accurately as possible. Due to the complexity of chosen material model, it is necessary to use advanced methods and complex numerical procedures to identify material parameters. Since previous research showed that evolutionary method for parameter identification and material behavior simulation for their calibration are valid, parameter identification procedure is characterized in this paper for the genetic algorithm to make possible fast and accurate solutions. Keywords: Genetic algorithm; material model; parameter identification; simulation. Introduction One of the stages in product design process refers to the optimal selection of materials, taking into account its behavior during operation. The proper choice of materials, the knowledge of their characteristics together with the good estimate of their behavior and durability at an early stage of this process can significantly affect the functioning of product and efficiency of its production. Considering that, at the present time great attention is given to the development of innovative materials and also on their characterization together with the development of procedures for modeling and simulation of their behavior. The process of material behavior modelling varies depending on its application and complexity of the proposed material models, which means it depends on the extent of phenomena in the material that need to be included in simulation of its behavior. Basically modeling of material behavior is a method of describing the physical changes in the material by applying appropriate simplifications of real processes. This method of describing the behavior of materials involves placing physical interdependence of individual variables to describe the phenomenology of material behavior and identification of material parameters that provides a realistic simulation of the behavior of materials. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +385-51-651533. E-mail address:marina.franulovic@riteh.hr