The macroscopic behavior of plasma sprayed zirconia coatings is greatly affected by their microstructure, and phenomena that occur at this scale, such as micro-craking and cracks closure. The present study investigates the effect of micro-porosities and micro-craking on compressive waves mitigation, material compaction, and macroscopic fracture. A procedure to generate 3D digital twins that faithfully represents the microstructure is developped using the discrete element method (DEM) and analysis of scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. Static and dynamic compressive loadings are applied to 3D and 2D twins to identify their macroscopic behavior. Local damage mechanisms and their influence on the waves mitigation and the macroscopic damage are observed and discussed related to the current knowledge in the literature.
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