A variational multiscale constitutive model for nanocrystalline materials

This paper presents a variational multi-scale constitutive model in the finite deformation regime capable of capturing the mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline (nc) fcc metals. The nc-material is modeled as a two-phase material consisting of a grain interior phase and a grain boundary effected zone (GBAZ). A rate-independent isotropic porous plasticity model is employed to describe the GBAZ, whereas a crystal-plasticity model which accounts for the transition from partial dislocation to full dislocation mediated plasticity is employed for the grain interior. The constitutive models of both phases are formulated in a small strain framework and extended to finite deformation by use of logarithmic and exponential mappings. Assuming the rule of mixtures, the overall behavior of a given grain is obtained via volume averaging. The scale transition from a single grain to a polycrystal is achieved by Taylor-type homogenization where a log-normal grain size distribution is assumed. It is shown that the proposed model is able to capture the inverse Hall-Petch effect, i.e., loss of strength with grain size refinement. Finally, the predictive capability of the model is validated against experimental results on nanocrystalline copper and nickel.     

Sensitivity upon the constitutive relations in materials with memory

Consider a semigroup describing the evolution of deformations of an inelastic body. This work investigates the sensitivity of this semigroup with respect to variations of the inelastic constitutive relations, and contains a full well posedness (Lipschitz) result. Particularly relevant is the case of material constants determined experimentally.Received: 24 June 2004, Accepted: 13 November 2004, Published online: 4 March 2005PACS: 74D10 Correspondence to: R.M. Colombo     

Stability approach to testing the constitutive relations of superplasticity

An approach to testing the suitability of the constitutive relations for describing superplasticity is proposed based on an analysis of the stability conditions of uniform extension of samples with respect to small perturbations of the current configuration. The necessity of accounting for the partial preservation of the local topology in varying the equations of motion is shown using a simple (nonlinear viscous) model of a superplastic medium. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika I Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 48, No. 6, pp. 170–177, November–December, 2007.     

A variational approach to the fracture of brittle thin films subject to out-of-plane loading

We address the problem of fracture in homogenous linear elastic thin films using a variational model. We restrict our attention to quasi-static problems assuming that kinetic effects are minimal. We focus on out-of-plane displacement of the film and investigate the effect of bending on fracture. Our analysis is based on a two-dimensional model where the thickness of the film does not need to be resolved. We derive this model through a formal asymptotic analysis. We present numerical simulations in a highly idealized setting for the purpose of verification, as well as more realistic micro-indentation experiments.     

Consistent incremental approximation of dissipation pseudo-potentials in the variational formulation of thermo-mechanical constitutive updates

In this paper, we detail a consistent approximate expression for incremental dissipation pseudo-potentials which appear in the variational formulation of coupled thermo-mechanical boundary-value problems. We explain why the most intuitive expression does not work in the case of an explicit temperature dependence in the dissipation, and propose an alternative expression ensuring consistent results when reducing the time increment towards zero.     

A modified variational approach for the analysis of piled raft foundation

A modified variational approach is presented to study the behavior of piled raft foundation under vertical loads. The free-body for analysis is a flexible raft isolated from piled raft foundation instead of pile group–soil system or whole pile raft system, which are usually used in other researches. The deflected shape of raft is represented by a function with a set of undetermined coefficients and the interactions between piles and/or the surface loads of soil are evaluated by a simplified approximate analytical solution. The response of the piled raft system is determined by the principle of minimum potential energy. Compared to other rigorous approaches, the present method is computationally efficient and inexpensive. The solutions obtained using the present method of analysis are shown to be in good agreement with other available published results.     

Regularized variational theories of fracture: A unified approach

The fracture pattern in stressed bodies is defined through the minimization of a two-field pseudo-spatial-dependent functional, with a structure similar to that proposed by Bourdin-Francfort-Marigo (2000) as a regularized approximation of a parent free-discontinuity problem, but now considered as an autonomous model per se. Here, this formulation is altered by combining it with structured deformation theory, to model that when the material microstructure is loosened and damaged, peculiar inelastic (structured) deformations may occur in the representative volume element at the price of surface energy consumption. This approach unifies various theories of failure because, by simply varying the form of the class for admissible structured deformations, different-in-type responses can be captured, incorporating the idea of cleavage, deviatoric, combined cleavage-deviatoric and masonry-like fractures. Remarkably, this latter formulation rigorously avoid material overlapping in the cracked zones. The model is numerically implemented using a standard finite-element discretization and adopts an alternate minimization algorithm, adding an inequality constraint to impose crack irreversibility (fixed crack model). Numerical experiments for some paradigmatic examples are presented and compared for various possible versions of the model.     

Stiffness reduction of cracked general symmetric laminates using a variational approach

In this paper, stiffness reduction of general symmetric laminates containing a uniform distribution of matrix cracks in a single orientation is analyzed. An admissible stress field is considered, which satisfies equilibrium and all the boundary and continuity conditions. This stress field has been used in conjunction with the principle of minimum complementary energy to get the effective stiffness matrix of a cracked general symmetric laminate. Natural boundary conditions have been derived from the variational principle to overcome the limitations of the existing variational methods on the analysis of general symmetric laminates. Therefore, the capability of analyzing cracked symmetric laminates using the variational approach has been enhanced significantly. It has been shown that the method provides a rigorous lower bound for the stiffness matrix of a cracked laminate, which is very important for practical applications. Results derived from the developed method for the properties of the cracked laminates showed an excellent agreement with experimental data and with those obtained from McCartney’s stress transfer model. The differences of the developed model with McCartney’s model are discussed in detail. It can be emphasized that the current approach is simpler than McCartney’s model, which needs an averaging procedure to obtain the governing equations. Moreover, it has been shown that the existing variational models are special cases of the current formulation.     

A variational approach to a micro-structured theory of solid-fluid mixtures

Summary In this paper, we present a micro-structured model for describing global deformations of heterogeneous mixtures. In particular, for a saturated solid-fluid mixture, we regard the solid volume fraction as a microstructural parameter so as to enlarge the space of admissible deformations with respect to the classical theory of mixtures. According to the variational approach, the governing equations are obtained as the stationarity of a suitable action functional. The micro-structured model is then forced to establish a second-gradient mixture theory, by introducing among the considered state parameters a suitable internal constraint. Finally, we determine under which (integrability) conditions the additional balance laws, typically employed to close the theory of porous media endowed with the volume fraction, can fit the variational framework. The authors wish to thank Prof. Francesco dell'Isola from University of Rome La Sapienza for his constructive criticism about the variational approach to continuum mechanics and the interpretation of the volume-fraction balance law.     

Asymptotic determination of effective elastic properties of composite materials with fibrous square-shaped inclusions

We propose an asymptotic approach for evaluating effective elastic properties of two-components periodic composite materials with fibrous inclusions. We start with a nontrivial expansion of the input elastic boundary value problem by ratios of elastic constants. This allows to simplify the governing equations to forms analogous to the transport problem. Then we apply an asymptotic homogenization method, coming from the original problem on a multi-connected domain to a so called cell problem, defined on a characterizing unit cell of the composite. If the inclusions' volume fraction tends to zero, the cell problem is solved by means of a boundary perturbation approach. When on the contrary the inclusions tend to touch each other we use an asymptotic expansion by non-dimensional distance between two neighbouring inclusions. Finally, the obtained “limiting” solutions are matched via two-point Padé approximants. As the results, we derive uniform analytical representations for effective elastic properties. Also local distributions of physical fields may be calculated. In some partial cases the proposed approach gives a possibility to establish a direct analogy between evaluations of effective elastic moduli and transport coefficients. As illustrative examples we consider transversally-orthotropic composite materials with fibres of square cross section and with square checkerboard structure. The obtained results are in good agreement with data of other authors.     

A unified energy approach to a class of micromechanics models for composite materials

Several micromechanics models for the determination of composite moduli are investigated in this paper, including the dilute solution, self-consistent method, generalized self-consistent method, and Mori-Tanaka's method. These micromechanical models have been developed by following quite different approaches and physical interpretations. It is shown that all the micromechanics models share a common ground, the generalized Budiansky's energy-equivalence framework. The difference among the various models is shown to be the way in which the average strain of the inclusion phase is evaluated. As a bonus of this theoretical development, the asymmetry suffered in Mori-Tanaka's method can be circumvented and the applicability of the generalized self-consistent method can be extended to materials containing microcracks, multiphase inclusions, non-spherical inclusions, or non-cylindrical inclusions. The relevance to the differential method, double-inclusion model, and Hashin-Shtrikman bounds is also discussed. The application of these micromechanics models to particulate-reinforced composites and microcracked solids is reviewed and some new results are presented.     

A recursive-faulting model of distributed damage in confined brittle materials

We develop a model of distributed damage in brittle materials deforming in triaxial compression based on the explicit construction of special microstructures obtained by recursive faulting. The model aims to predict the effective or macroscopic behavior of the material from its elastic and fracture properties; and to predict the microstructures underlying the microscopic behavior. The model accounts for the elasticity of the matrix, fault nucleation and the cohesive and frictional behavior of the faults. We analyze the resulting quasistatic boundary value problem and determine the relaxation of the potential energy, which describes the macroscopic material behavior averaged over all possible fine-scale structures. Finally, we present numerical calculations of the dynamic multi-axial compression experiments on sintered aluminum nitride of Chen and Ravichandran [1994. Dynamic compressive behavior of ceramics under lateral confinement. J. Phys. IV 4, 177-182; 1996a. Static and dynamic compressive behavior of aluminum nitride under moderate confinement. J. Am. Soc. Ceramics 79(3), 579-584; 1996b. An experimental technique for imposing dynamic multiaxial compression with mechanical confinement. Exp. Mech. 36(2), 155-158; 2000. Failure mode transition in ceramics under dynamic multiaxial compression. Int. J. Fracture 101, 141-159]. The model correctly predicts the general trends regarding the observed damage patterns; and the brittle-to-ductile transition resulting under increasing confinement.     

A variational approach to coarse graining of equilibrium and non-equilibrium atomistic description at finite temperature

The aim of this paper is the development of equilibrium and non-equilibrium extensions of the quasicontinuum (QC) method. We first use variational mean-field theory and the maximum-entropy (max-ent) formalism for deriving approximate probability distribution and partition functions for the system. The resulting probability distribution depends locally on atomic temperatures defined for every atom and the corresponding thermodynamic potentials are explicit and local in nature. The method requires an interatomic potential as the sole empirical input. Numerical validation is performed by simulating thermal equilibrium properties of selected materials using the Lennard-Jones (LJ) pair potential and the embedded-atom method (EAM) potential and comparing with molecular dynamics results as well as experimental data. The max-ent variational approach is then taken as a basis for developing a three-dimensional non-equilibrium finite-temperature extension of the QC method. This extension is accomplished by coupling the local temperature-dependent free energy furnished by the max-ent approximation scheme to the heat equation in a joint thermo-mechanical variational setting. Results for finite-temperature nanoindentation tests demonstrate the ability of the method to capture non-equilibrium transport properties and differentiate between slow and fast indentation.     

A multi-scale constitutive model for the sintering of an air-plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coating, and its response under hot isostatic pressing

A micromechanical model is developed for the sintering of an air-plasma-sprayed, thermal barrier coating, and is used to make predictions of microstructure evolution under free sintering and under hot isostatic pressing. It is assumed that the splats of the coating are separated by penny-shaped cracks; the faces of these cracks progressively sinter together at contacting asperities, initially by the mechanism of plastic yield and subsequently by interfacial diffusion. Diffusion is driven by the reduction in interfacial energy at the developing contacts of the cracks and also by the local contact stress at asperities. The contact stress arises from the remote applied stress and from mechanical wedging of the rough crack surfaces. Sintering of the cracks leads to an elevation in both the macroscopic Young's modulus and thermal conductivity of the coating, and thereby leads to a degradation in thermal performance and durability. An assessment is made of the relative roles of surface energy, applied stress and crack face roughness upon the sintering response and upon the evolution of the pertinent mechanical and physical properties. The evolution in microstructure is predicted for free sintering and for hot isostatic pressing in order to provide guidance for experimental validation of the micromechanical model.     

Estimates for the overall linear properties of pointwise heterogeneous solids with application to elasto-viscoplasticity

New estimates are derived for the overall properties of linear solids with pointwise heterogeneous local properties. The derivation relies on the use of ‘comparison solids’ which, unlike comparison solids considered previously, are themselves pointwise heterogeneous. The estimates are then exploited within an incremental homogenization scheme to determine the overall response of multiphase elasto-viscoplastic solids under arbitrary loading histories. By way of example, the scheme is applied to incompressible Maxwellian solids with power-law plastic dissipation; particularly simple estimates of the Hashin–Shtrikman type are obtained. Predictions are confronted with full-field simulations for particulate composites under cyclic and rotating loading conditions. Good agreement is found for all cases considered. In particular, elasto-plastic transitions, tension-compression asymmetries (Bauschinger effect) and stress-path distortions induced by material heterogeneity are all well-captured, thus improving significantly on commonly used elastic-plastic decoupled schemes.     

On the elastic–viscoplastic behavior of nanocrystalline materials

A new constitutive law is introduced to quantify the macroscopic effect of grain boundary dislocation emission on the behavior of pure face center cubic nanocrystalline materials. It is postulated that an emitted dislocation ends its trajectory in the grain boundary opposite to the source causing mass transfer. Dislocation emission by grain boundary ledges, considered here as the primary grain-boundary sources, is modeled as a thermally activated mechanism and the penetration of an emitted dislocation is assimilated as a soft collision. The macroscopic behavior of the material is retrieved via the use of a secant self-consistent scheme. The material is seen as a two-phase composite where the inclusion phase represents grain cores, their behavior is driven by dislocation glide, and where the matrix phase, governed by the newly introduced dislocation emission and penetration mechanism, represents both grain boundaries and triple junctions. The long range stress field arising from the presence of grain boundaries is taken into account in the critical glide resistance stress at 0 K in the inclusion phase. The model is applied to polycrystal copper and results in pure tension and creep are compared to experiments. Good agreements between the experimental measurements and the model predictions are observed.     

Structure of the constitutive relations for hereditarily elastic materials reinforced by hard fibers

The problem of simplifying the nonlinear hereditary elasticity relations is considered for strongly anisotropic materials such as fiber-reinforced composites. This is done using their property that the material stiffness is high along the reinforcement and is low in the cross-sectional direction. The material is considered transversally isotropic. The simplification is performed by analyzing asymptotic representations of creep relations. Relations of various degrees of accuracy for various types of composites and stress states are obtained. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 120–127, May–June, 2005.     

On the use of universal relations in the modeling of transversely isotropic materials

A material is of coaxial type   if the Cauchy stress tensor T$\mathit{T}$ and the strain tensor B$\mathit{B}$ are coaxial for all deformations. Clearly a hyperelastic material is of coaxial type if and only if it is isotropic. Here we present a weaker definition of materials of coaxial type. Anisotropic materials may be of a coaxial type in a weak sense if for a given specific  B$\mathit{B}$ we have that TB=BT$\mathit{TB}=\mathit{BT}$. We denote these materials B$\mathit{B}$-coaxial. We show that for transverse isotropic materials weak coaxial constitutive equations may be characterized using universal relations. We discuss the impact of B$\mathit{B}$-coaxial materials in the modeling of soft tissues. We conclude that B$\mathit{B}$-coaxial materials are a strong evidence that in real world materials two anisotropic invariants are always necessary to model in a meaningful and correct way single fiber reinforced materials.     

Dynamics of asymmetrical crack propagation in composite materials

When a crack appears in composite materials, the fibrous system will form bridges, and the crack propagates asymmetrically as a rule. A dynamic model of an asymmetrical crack propagation is considered and investigated by applying the self-similar functions. The formulation involves the development of a Riemann–Hilbert problem. The analytical solution of an asymmetrical propagation crack of composite materials under the action of variable moving loads and unit-step moving loads is obtained.     

A bilinear form of the variational principle with vanishing parameter

Summary  A variational principle whose Lagrangian function generates a hyperbolic heat conduction equation is exhibited. The main characteristic of this principle is that it contains two temperature fields that enter bilinearly into the Lagrangian function. These two fields are interpreted as two mutually independent approximate temperature profiles which are potentially competent to describe rationally the real physical temperature distribution. The proposed variational principle is used as a starting point for finding approximate solutions of the classical, i.e. Fourier's, heat conduction theory, by employing the vanishing parameter technique and the direct methods of variational calculus. Received 4 June 1997; accepted for publication 1 July 1997