Defects in gradient micropolar elasticity—II: edge dislocation and wedge disclination

A theory of gradient micropolar elasticity based on first gradients of distortion and bend-twist tensors for an isotropic micropolar medium has been proposed in Part I of this paper. Gradient micropolar elasticity is an extension of micropolar elasticity such that in addition to double stresses double couple stresses also appear. The strain energy depends on the micropolar distortion and bend-twist terms as well as on distortion and bend-twist gradients. We use a version of this gradient theory which can be connected to Eringen's nonlocal micropolar elasticity. The theory is used to study a straight-edge dislocation and a straight-wedge disclination. As one important result, we obtained nonsingular expressions for the force and couple stresses. For the edge dislocation the components of the force stress have extremum values near the dislocation line and those of the couple stress have extremum values at the dislocation line and for the wedge disclination the components of the force stress have extremum values at the disclination line and those of the couple stress have extremum values near the disclination line.     

An elasto-plastic theory of dislocation and disclination fields

A linear theory of the elasto-plasticity of crystalline solids based on a continuous representation of crystal defects – dislocations and disclinations – is presented. The model accounts for the translational and rotational aspects of lattice incompatibility, respectively associated with the presence of dislocations and disclinations. The defects content relates to the incompatible plastic strain and curvature tensors. The stress state is described by using the conjugate variables to strain and curvature, i.e., the stress and couple-stress tensors. Defect motion is described by two transport equations. A dynamic interplay between dislocations and disclinations results from a disclination-induced source term in the transport of dislocations. Thermodynamic guidance provides the driving forces conjugate to dislocation and disclination velocity in a continuous context, as well as admissible constitutive relations for the latter. When dislocation and disclination velocity vanish, the model reduces to deWit’s elasto-static theory of crystal defects. It also reduces to Acharya’s linear elasto-plastic theory for dislocation fields when the disclination density is ignored. The theory is intended for use in instances where rotational defects matter, such as grain boundaries. To illustrate its applicability, a finite high-angle tilt boundary is modeled using a disclination dipole and its behavior under tensile loading normal to the boundary is shown.     

Dislocations and disclinations: continuously distributed defects in elasto-plastic crystalline materials

The paper deals with elasto-plastic models for crystalline materials with defects, dislocations coupled with disclinations. The behaviour of the material is described with respect to an anholonomic configuration, endowed with a non-Riemannian geometric structure. The geometry of the material structure is generated by the plastic distortion, which is an incompatible second-order tensor, and by the so-called plastic connection which is metric compatible, with respect to the metric tensor associated with the plastic distortion. The free energy function is dependent on the second-order elastic deformation and on the state of defects. The tensorial measure of the defects is considered to be the Cartan torsion of the plastic connection and the disclination tensor. When we restrict to small elastic and plastic distortions, the measures of the incompatibility as well as the dislocation densities reduced to the classical ones in the linear elasticity. The constitutive equations for macroforces and the evolution equations for the plastic distortion and disclination tensor are provided to be compatible with the free energy imbalance principle.     

Representations of elastic fields of circular dislocation and disclination loops in terms of spherical harmonics and their application to various problems of the theory of defects

Elastic fields of circular dislocation and disclination loops are represented in explicit form in terms of spherical harmonics, i.e. via series with Legendre and associated Legendre polynomials. Representations are obtained by expanding Lipschitz-Hankel integrals with two Bessel functions into Legendre series. Found representations are then applied to the solutions of elasticity boundary-value problems of the theory of defects and to the calculation of elastic fields of segmented spherical inclusions. In the framework of virtual circular dislocation–disclination loops technique, a general scheme to solving axisymmetric elasticity problems with boundary conditions specified on a sphere is given. New solutions for elastic fields of a twist disclination loop in a spherical particle and near a spherical pore are demonstrated. The easy and straightforward way for calculations of elastic fields of segmented spherical inclusion with uniaxial eigenstrain is shown.     

A numerical spectral approach for solving elasto-static field dislocation and g-disclination mechanics

A spectral approach is developed to solve the elasto-static equations of field dislocation and g-disclination mechanics in periodic media. Given the spatial distribution of Nye’s dislocation density and/or g-disclination density tensors in heterogeneous or homogenous linear elastic media, the incompatible and compatible elastic distortions are respectively obtained from the solutions of Poisson and Navier-type equations in the Fourier space. Intrinsic discrete Fourier transforms solved by the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) method, which are consistent with the pixel grid for the calculation of first and second order spatial derivatives, are preferred and compared to the classical discrete approximation of continuous Fourier transforms when deriving elastic fields of defects. Numerical examples are provided for homogeneous linear elastic isotropic solids. For various defects, a regularized defect density in the core is considered and smooth elastic fields without Gibbs oscillations are obtained, when using intrinsic discrete Fourier transforms. The results include the elastic fields of single screw and edge dislocations, standard wedge disclinations and associated dipoles, as well as “twinning g-disclinations”. In order to validate the present spectral approach, comparisons are made with analytical solutions using the Riemann–Graves integral operator and with numerical simulations using the finite element approximation.     

A screw dislocation in a functionally graded material using the translation gauge theory of dislocations

The aim of this paper is to provide new results and insights for a screw dislocation in functionally graded media within the gauge theory of dislocations. We present the equations of motion for dislocations in inhomogeneous media. We specify the equations of motion for a screw dislocation in a functionally graded material. The material properties are assumed to vary exponentially along the x and y-directions. In the present work we give the analytical gauge field theoretic solution to the problem of a screw dislocation in inhomogeneous media. Using the dislocation gauge approach, rigorous analytical expressions for the elastic distortions, the force stresses, the dislocation density and the pseudomoment stresses are obtained depending on the moduli of gradation and an effective intrinsic length scale characteristic for the functionally graded material under consideration.     

Theory of large-strain torsion of prismatic bodies with moment stresses

The problem of the torsion and tension-compression of a prismatic bar with a stress-free lateral surface is studied using three-dimensional elasticity theory for materials with moment stresses. A substitution is found that allows one to separate one variable in the nonlinear equilibrium equations for a Cosserat continuum and boundary conditions on the lateral surface. This substitution reduces the original spatial problem of the equilibrium of a micropolar body to a two-dimensional nonlinear boundary-value problem for a plane region shaped like the cross section of the prismatic bar. Variational formulations of the two-dimensional problem for the section are given that differ in the sets of varied functions and the constraints imposed on their boundary values. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 167–175, July–August, 2006.     

Defects in gradient micropolar elasticity—I: screw dislocation

A gradient micropolar elasticity is proposed based on first gradients of distortion and bend-twist tensors for an isotropic micropolar medium. This theory is an extension of the theory of micropolar elasticity with couple stresses together with gradient elasticity in a way that in addition to hyper stresses, hyper couple stresses also appear. In particular, the strain energy, besides its dependence upon the distortion and bend-twist terms of a micropolar medium (Cosserat continuum), depends also on distortion and bend-twist gradients. Using a simplified but rigorous version of this gradient theory, we can connect it to Eringen's nonlocal micropolar elasticity. In addition, it is used to study a screw dislocation in gradient micropolar elasticity. One important result is that we obtained nonsingular expressions for the force and couple stresses. The components of the force stress have maximum values near the dislocation line and those of the couple stress have maximum values at the dislocation line.     

An approach based on distributed dislocations and disclinations for crack problems in couple-stress elasticity

The technique of distributed dislocations proved to be in the past an effective approach in studying crack problems within classical elasticity. The present work is intended to extend this technique in studying crack problems within couple-stress elasticity, i.e. within a theory accounting for effects of microstructure. This extension is not an obvious one since rotations and couple-stresses are involved in the theory employed to analyze the crack problems. Here, the technique is introduced to study the case of a mode I crack. Due to the nature of the boundary conditions that arise in couple-stress elasticity, the crack is modeled by a continuous distribution of climb dislocations and constrained wedge disclinations (the concept of ‘constrained wedge disclination’ is first introduced in the present work). These distributions create both standard stresses and couple stresses in the body. In particular, it is shown that the mode-I case is governed by a system of coupled singular integral equations with both Cauchy-type and logarithmic kernels. The numerical solution of this system shows that a cracked solid governed by couple-stress elasticity behaves in a more rigid way (having increased stiffness) as compared to a solid governed by classical elasticity. Also, the stress level at the crack-tip region is appreciably higher than the one predicted by classical elasticity.     

Riemann–Cartan Geometry of Nonlinear Dislocation Mechanics

We present a geometric theory of nonlinear solids with distributed dislocations. In this theory the material manifold—where the body is stress free—is a Weitzenb?ck manifold, that is, a manifold with a flat affine connection with torsion but vanishing non-metricity. Torsion of the material manifold is identified with the dislocation density tensor of nonlinear dislocation mechanics. Using Cartan’s moving frames we construct the material manifold for several examples of bodies with distributed dislocations. We also present non-trivial examples of zero-stress dislocation distributions. More importantly, in this geometric framework we are able to calculate the residual stress fields, assuming that the nonlinear elastic body is incompressible. We derive the governing equations of nonlinear dislocation mechanics covariantly using balance of energy and its covariance.     

A micropolar mixture theory of multi-component porous media

A mixture theory is developed for multi-component micropolar porous media with a combination of the hybrid mixture theory and the micropolar continuum theory. The system is modeled as multi-component micropolar elastic solids saturated with multi- component micropolar viscous fluids. Balance equations are given through the mixture theory. Constitutive equations are developed based on the second law of thermodynamics and constitutive assumptions. Taking account of compressibility of solid phases, the volume fraction of fluid as an independent state variable is introduced in the free energy function, and the dynamic compatibility condition is obtained to restrict the change of pressure difference on the solid-fluid interface. The constructed constitutive equations are used to close the field equations. The linear field equations are obtained using a linearization procedure, and the micropolar thermo-hydro-mechanical component transport model is established. This model can be applied to practical problems, such as contaminant, drug, and pesticide transport. When the proposed model is supposed to be porous media, and both fluid and solid are single-component, it will almost agree with Eringen＇s model.     

A Physical theory of asymmetric plasticity

Experiments have shown the strong rotation in plastic deformation, which is caused by the disclination, specific arrangement of dislocation and inhomogeneity of the gliding motion of the defects in the microscopic scale. Based on the microscopic mechanism of the rotational plastic deformation, the conservation equation satisfied by the defects motion (dislocation and disclination) has been developed in this paper. Then the diffusion motion of the defects are reduced based on the asymmetric theory of continuum mechanics. By utilizing the maximization procedure for the micro plastic work and a scale-invariance argument, various models of Cosserat-type plasticity are obtained in this manner.     

A note on incremental equations for a new class of constitutive relations for elastic bodies

Some new classes of constitutive relations for elastic bodies have been proposed in the literature, wherein the stresses and strains are obtained from implicit constitutive relations. A special case of the above relations corresponds to a class of constitutive equations where the linearized strain tensor is given as a nonlinear function of the stresses. For such constitutive equations we consider the problem of decomposing the stresses into two parts: one corresponds to a time-independent solution of the boundary value problem, plus a small (in comparison with the above) time-dependent stress tensor. The effect of this initial time-independent stress in the propagation of a small wave motion is studied for an infinite medium.     

On the nucleation of a Zener crack from a wedge disclination dipole in the presence of a circular inhomogeneity

The nucleation of a Mode-I Zener crack from a wedge disclination dipole in the presence of a circular inhomogeneity is investigated. It is assumed that the disclination dipole and the nucleated Zener crack are along the radial direction of the inhomogeneity. Two cases are studied herein, i.e., the positive or negative wedge disclination of the dipole locates nearer to the inhomogeneity respectively. In order to investigate how various factors such as the elastic mismatch between the inhomogeneity and the matrix influence the nucleation of the Zener crack, the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) at the sharp tip of the Zener crack is determined for different sets of geometric and material parameters with the distributed dislocation technique. The formulated singular integral equations are then solved numerically. Our results indicate that a nearby ‘hard’ inhomogeneity (having a higher shear modulus than the matrix) is beneficial to the crack nucleation for the first case (the positive disclination locates nearer to the inhomogeneity) while it retards the crack nucleation for the second case (the negative disclination locates nearer to the inhomogeneity). A nearby ‘soft’ inhomogeneity is helpful to the crack nucleation for the second case while it has inverse effects on the crack nucleation for the first case. This phenomenon can be explained with the concept of material force. The characteristics of the crack nucleation and the effects of the disclination strength, the distance between the inhomogeneity and the dipole, the disclination dipole arm length and inhomogeneity size on the crack nucleation are also systematically studied. The obtained results are helpful to characterize and enhance the strength of precipitate alloys and particle reinforced composites.     

Nonlinear equations of elastic deformation of plates

A method for constructing nonlinear equations of elastic deformation of plates with boundary conditions for stresses and displacements at the face surfaces in an arbitrary coordinate system is proposed. The initial three–dimensional problem of the nonlinear theory of elasticity is reduced to a one–parameter sequence of two–dimensional problems by approximating the unknown functions by truncated series in Legendre polynomials. The same unknowns are approximated by different truncated series. In each approximation, a linearized system of equations whose differential order does not depend on the boundary conditions at the face surfaces which can be formulated in terms of stresses or displacements is obtained.     

Wave propagation through an interface between viscoelastic media in the presence of defects

The propagation of plane harmonic waves through an interface between viscoelastic media is considered using the equations of field theory of defects, the kinematic identities for an elastic continuum with defects, and the dynamic equations of gauge theory. The reflection and refraction coefficients of elastic displacement waves and the waves of a defect field characterized by a dislocation density tensor and a defect flux tensor are determined. Dependences of the obtained quantities on the parameters of the interfacing media are analyzed.     

The Eshelby stress tensor,angular momentum tensor and scaling flux in micropolar elasticity

The (static) energy-momentum tensor, angular momentum tensor and scaling flux vector of micropolar elasticity are derived within the framework of Noether’s theorem on variational principles. Certain balance (or broken conservation) laws of broken translational, rotational and dilatational symmetries are found including inhomogeneities, elastic anisotropy, body forces, body couples and dislocations and disclinations present. The non-conserved J-, L- and M-integrals of micropolar elasticity are derived and discussed. We gave explicit formulae for the configurational forces, moments and work terms.     

Micropolar hypo-elasticity

In this paper, the concept of hypo-elasticity is generalized to the micropolar continuum theory, and the general forms of the constitutive equations of the micropolar hypo-elastic materials are presented. A new co-rotational objective rate whose spin is the micropolar gyration tensor is introduced which describes the deformation of the material in view of an observer attached to the micro-structure. As special case, simplified versions of the proposed constitutive equations are given in which the same fourth-order elasticity tensors are used as in the micropolar linear elasticity. A 2-D finite element formulation for large elastic deformation of micropolar hypo-elastic media based on the simplified constitutive equations in conjunction with Jaumann and gyration rates is presented. As an example, buckling of a shallow arc is examined, and it is shown that an increase in the micropolar material parameters results in an increase in the buckling load of the arc. Also, it is shown that micropolar effects become important for deformations taking place at small scales.