Analytical solution of the spherical indentation problem for a half-space with gradients with the depth elastic properties

The contact problem for the impression of spherical indenter into a non-homogeneous (both layered and functionally graded) elastic half-space is considered. Analytical methods for solving this problem have been developed. It is assumed that the Lame coefficients vary arbitrarily with the half-space depth. The problem is reduced to dual integral equations. The developed methods make it possible to find the analytical asymptotically exact problem solution, suitable for a PC. The influence of the Lame coefficients variation upon the contact stresses and size of the contact zone with different radius of indenter as well as values of the impressing forces are studied. The effect of the non-homogeneity is examined. The developed method allows to construct analytical solutions with presupposed accuracy and gives the opportunity to do multiparametric and qualitative investigations of the problem with minimal computation time expenditure.     

Contact analysis in the presence of an ellipsoidal inhomogeneity within a half space

Many materials contain inhomogeneities or inclusions that may greatly affect their mechanical properties. Such inhomogeneities are for example encountered in the case of composite materials or materials containing precipitates. This paper presents an analysis of contact pressure and subsurface stress field for contact problems in the presence of anisotropic elastic inhomogeneities of ellipsoidal shape. Accounting for any orientation and material properties of the inhomogeneities are the major novelties of this work. The semi-analytical method proposed to solve the contact problem is based on Eshelby’s formalism and uses 2D and 3D Fast Fourier Transforms to speed up the computation. The time and memory necessary are greatly reduced in comparison with the classical finite element method. The model can be seen as an enrichment technique where the enrichment fields from the heterogeneous solution are superimposed to the homogeneous problem. The definition of complex geometries made by combination of inclusions can easily be achieved. A parametric analysis on the effect of elastic properties and geometrical features of the inhomogeneity (size, depth and orientation) is proposed. The model allows to obtain the contact pressure distribution – disturbed by the presence of inhomogeneities – as well as subsurface and matrix/inhomogeneity interface stresses. It is shown that the presence of an inclusion below the contact surface affects significantly the contact pressure and subsurfaces stress distributions when located at a depth lower than 0.7 times the contact radius. The anisotropy directions and material data are also key elements that strongly affect the elastic contact solution. In the case of normal contact between a spherical indenter and an elastic half space containing a single inhomogeneity whose center is located straight below the contact center, the normal stress at the inhomogeneity/matrix interface is mostly compressive. Finally when the axes of the ellipsoidal inclusion do not coincide with the contact problem axes, the pressure distribution is not symmetrical.     

Stress concentrations in the particulate composite with transversely isotropic phases

The accurate series solution have been obtained of the elasticity theory problem for a transversely isotropic solid containing a finite or infinite periodic array of anisotropic spherical inclusions. The method of solution has been developed based on the multipole expansion technique. The basic idea of method consists in expansion the displacement vector into a series over the set of vectorial functions satisfying the governing equations of elastic equilibrium. The re-expansion formulae derived for these functions provide exact satisfaction of the interfacial boundary conditions. As a result, the primary spatial boundary-value problem is reduced to an infinite set of linear algebraic equations. The method has been applied systematically to solve for three models of composite, namely a single inclusion, a finite array of inclusions and an infinite periodic array of inclusions, respectively, embedded in a transversely isotropic solid. The numerical results are presented demonstrating that elastic properties mismatch, anisotropy degree, orientation of the anisotropy axes and interactions between the inclusions can produce significant local stress concentration and, thus, affect greatly the overall elastic behavior of composite.     

Antiplane study on confocally elliptical inhomogeneity problem using an alternating technique

This paper presents a novel efficient procedure to analyze the two-phase confocally elliptical inclusion embedded in an unbounded matrix under antiplane loadings. The antiplane loadings considered in this paper include a point force and a screw dislocation or a far-field antiplane shear. The analytical continuation method together with an alternating technique is used to derive the general forms of the elastic fields in terms of the corresponding problem subjected to the same loadings in a homogeneous body. This approach could lead to some interesting simplifications in solution procedures, and the derived analytical solution for singularity problems could be employed as a Green's function to investigate matrix cracking in the corresponding crack problems. Several specific solutions are provided in closed form, which are verified by comparison with existing ones. Numerical results are provided to show the effect of the material mismatch, the aspect ratio, and the loading condition on the elastic field due to the presence of inhomogeneities.     

THE SCHRÖDINGER EQUATION OF THIN SHELL THEORIES

This work is the continuation of the discussions of [50] and [51]. In this paper: (A) The Love-Kirchhoff equation of small deflection problem for elastic thin shell with constant curvature are classified as the same several solutions of Schrodinger equation, and we show clearly that its form in axisymmetric problem;(B) For example for the small deflection problem, we extract me general solution of the vibration problem of thin spherical shell with equal thickness by the force in central surface and axisymmetric external field, that this is distinct from ref. [50] in variable. Today the variable is a space-place, and is not time;(C) The von Kármán-Vlasov equation of large deflection problem for shallow shell are classified as the solutions of AKNS equations and in it the one-dimensional problem is classified as the solution of simple Schrodinger equation for eigenvalues problem, and we transform the large deflection of shallow shell from nonlinear problem into soluble linear problem.     

Effect of pore shape on effective porothermoelastic properties of isotropic rocks

The present work is devoted to the determination of the macroscopic poroelastic and porothermoelastic properties of geomaterials or rock-like composites constituted by an isotropic matrix with embedded ellipsoidal inhomogeneities and/or pores randomly oriented. By considering the solution of a single ellipsoidal inhomogeneity in the homogenization problem it is possible to observe the significant influence of the shape of inhomogeneities on the effective porothermoelastic properties. In the particular case of microscopic and macroscopic isotropic behaviors, a closed form solution based on analytical integrate of the Eshelby solution for the single ellipsoidal inhomogeneity can be obtained for the randomly oriented distribution. This result completes the well known solutions in the limiting cases of spherical and penny shape inhomogeneities. Based on recent works on porous rock-like composites such as shales or argillites, an application of the developed solution to a two-level microporomechanics model is presented. The microporosity in homogenized at the first level, and multiple solid mineral phase inclusions are added at the second level. The overall porothermoelastic coefficients are estimated in the particular context of heterogeneous solid matrix. Numerical results are presented for data representative of isotropic rock-like composites.     

Contact analysis in presence of spherical inhomogeneities within a half-space

This paper presents a fast method of solving contact problems when one of the mating bodies contains multiple heterogeneous inclusions, and numerical results are presented for soft or stiff inhomogeneities. The emphasis is put on the effects of spherical inclusions on the contact pressure distribution and subsurface stress field in an elastic half-space. The computing time and allocated memory are kept small, compared to the finite element method, by the use of analytical solution to account for the presence of inhomogeneities. Eshelby’s equivalent inclusion method is considered in the contact solver. An iterative process is implemented to determine the displacements and stress fields caused by the eigenstrains of all spherical inclusions. The proposed method can be seen as an enrichment technique for which the effect of heterogeneous inclusions is superimposed on the homogeneous solution in the contact algorithm. 3D and 2D Fast Fourier Transforms are utilized to improve the computational efficiency. Configurations such as stringer and cluster of spherical inclusions are analyzed. The effects of Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, size and location of the inhomogeneities are also investigated. Numerical results show that the presence of inclusions in the vicinity of the contact surface could significantly changes the contact pressure distribution. From a numerical point of view the role of Poisson’s ratio is found very important. One of the findings is that a relatively ‘soft’ and nearly incompressible inclusion – for example a cavity filled with a liquid – can be more detrimental for the stress state within the matrix than a very hard inclusion with a classical Poisson’s ratio of 0.3.     

SURFACE STRESS EFFECT IN MECHANICS OF NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIALS

This review article summarizes the advances in the surface stress effect in mechanics of nanostructured elements,including nanoparticles,nanowires,nanobeams,and nanofilms,and heterogeneous materials containing nanoscale inhomogeneities.It begins with the fundamental formulations of surface mechanics of solids,including the definition of surface stress as a surface excess quantity,the surface constitutive relations,and the surface equilibrium equations.Then,it depicts some theoretical and experimental studies of the mechanical properties of nanostructured elements,as well as the static and dynamic behaviour of cantilever sensors caused by the surface stress which is influenced by adsorption.Afterwards,the article gives a summary of the analytical elasto-static and dynamic solutions of a single as well as multiple inhomogeneities embedded in a matrix with the interface stress prevailing.The effect of surface elasticity on the diffraction of elastic waves is elucidated.Due to the difficulties in the analytical solution of inhomogeneities of complex shapes and configurations,finite element approaches have been developed for heterogeneous materials with the surface stress.Surface stress and surface energy are inherently related to crack propagation and the stress field in the vicinity of crack tips.The solutions of crack problems taking into account surface stress effects are also included.Predicting the effective elastic and plastic responses of heterogeneous materials while taking into account surface and interface stresses has received much attention.The advances in this topic are inevitably delineated.Mechanics of rough surfaces appears to deserve special attention due to its theoretical and practical implications.Some most recent work is reviewed.Finally,some challenges are pointed out.They include the characterization of surfaces and interfaces of real nanomaterials,experimental measurements and verification of mechanical parameters of complex surfaces,and the effects of the physical and chemical processes on the surface properties,etc.     

Elastic fields and effective moduli of particulate nanocomposites with the Gurtin–Murdoch model of interfaces

A complete solution has been obtained for periodic particulate nanocomposite with the unit cell containing a finite number of spherical particles with the Gurtin–Murdoch interfaces. For this purpose, the multipole expansion approach by Kushch et al. [Kushch, V.I., Mogilevskaya, S.G., Stolarski, H.K., Crouch, S.L., 2011. Elastic interaction of spherical nanoinhomogeneities with Gurtin–Murdoch type interfaces. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 59, 1702–1716] has been further developed and implemented in an efficient numerical algorithm. The method provides accurate evaluation of local fields and effective stiffness tensor with the interaction effects fully taken into account. The displacement vector within the matrix domain is found as a superposition of the vector periodic solutions of Lamé equation. By using local expansion of the total displacement and stress fields in terms of vector spherical harmonics associated with each particle, the interface conditions are fulfilled precisely. Analytical averaging of the local strain and stress fields in matrix domain yields an exact, closed form formula (in terms of expansion coefficients) for the effective elastic stiffness tensor of nanocomposite. Numerical results demonstrate that elastic stiffness and, especially, brittle strength of nanoheterogeneous materials can be substantially improved by an appropriate surface modification.     

Interacting elliptic inclusions by the method of complex potentials

An accurate series solution has been obtained for a piece-homogeneous elastic plane containing a finite array of non-overlapping elliptic inclusions of arbitrary size, aspect ratio, location and elastic properties. The method combines standard Muskhelishvili’s representation of general solution in terms of complex potentials with the superposition principle and newly derived re-expansion formulae to obtain a complete solution of the many-inclusion problem. By exact satisfaction of all the interface conditions, a primary boundary-value problem stated on a complicated heterogeneous domain has been reduced to an ordinary well-posed set of linear algebraic equations. A properly chosen form of potentials provides a remarkably simple form of solution and thus an efficient computational algorithm. The theory developed is rather general and can be applied to solve a variety of composite mechanics problems. The advanced models of composite involving up to several hundred inclusions and providing an accurate account for the microstructure statistics and fiber–fiber interactions can be considered in this way. The numerical examples are given showing high accuracy and numerical efficiency of the method developed and disclosing the way and extent to which the selected structural parameters influence the stress concentration at the matrix–inclusion interface.     

On the Riemann problem for liquid or gas-liquid media

Self-similar solutions to the Riemann problem for water with the modified Tait equation of state are presented. The methods of Smoller for gas dynamics are employed to reduce the problem to the solution of a single non-linear equation. The same methods are used for solving the Riemann problem at a gas-water interface. In both cases the method of interval bisections affords a solution technique free of problems with convergence.     

Equivalent inclusion solution adapted to particle debonding with a non-linear cohesive law

Starting from Eshelby’s solution of the equivalent inclusion problem, an approximate solution is proposed in order to model interface debonding of a spherical inhomogeneity isolated in a uniform matrix. Both phases are linear elastic but the interface traction-separation law is non-linear. A semi-analytical incremental model is developed which is suitable for any type of loading. For computational efficiency, the model relies on two simplifying assumptions: (i) the eigenstrain is uniform inside the inhomogeneity and (ii) the interface compliance is averaged over inhomogeneity’s surface when computing the average strain within the inhomogeneity. An extensive parametric study is conducted for three loading modes and 144 combinations of non-dimensional parameters. The predictions are assessed against full-field finite element solutions based on two error measures of the mean stress field inside the inhomogeneity. The results show that the mean error value is acceptable in all cases and indicate the parameter ranges for which the model is most accurate.     

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.     

Mechanical interaction between spherical inhomogeneities: an assessment of a method based on the equivalent inclusion

This paper assesses the ability of the Equivalent Inclusion Method (EIM) with third order truncated Taylor series (Moschovidis and Mura, 1975) to describe the stress distributions of interacting inhomogeneities. The cases considered are two identical spherical voids and glass or rubber inhomogeneities in an infinite elastic matrix. Results are compared with those obtained using spherical dipolar coordinates, which are assumed to be exact, and by a Finite Element Analysis. The EIM gives better results for voids than for inhomogeneities stiffer than the matrix. In the case of rubber inhomogeneities, while the EIM gives accurate values of the hydrostatic pressure inside the rubber, the stress concentrations are inaccurate at very small neighbouring distances for all stiffnesses. A parameter based on the residual stress discontinuity at the interface is proposed to evaluate the quality of the solution given by the EIM. Finally, for inhomogeneities stiffer than the matrix, the method is found to diverge for expansions in Taylor series truncated at the third order.     

An exact theory of interfacial debonding in layered elastic composites

An exact theory of interfacial debonding is developed for a layered composite system consisting of distinct linear elastic slabs separated by nonlinear, nonuniform decohesive interfaces. Loading of the top and bottom external surfaces is defined pointwise while loading of the side surfaces is prescribed in the form of resultants. The work is motivated by the desire to develop a general tool to analyze the detailed features of debonding along uniform and nonuniform straight interfaces in slab systems subject to general loading. The methodology allows for the investigation of both solitary defect as well as multiple defect interaction problems. Interfacial integral equations, governing the normal and tangential displacement jump components at an interface of a slab system are developed from the Fourier series solution for the single slab subject to arbitrary loading on its surfaces. Interfaces are characterized by distinct interface force–displacement jump relations with crack-like defects modeled by an interface strength which varies with interface coordinate. Infinitesimal strain equilibrium solutions, which account for rigid body translation and rotation, are sought by eigenfunction expansion of the solution of the governing interfacial integral equations. Applications of the theory to the bilayer problem with a solitary defect or a defect pair, in both peeling and mixed load configurations are presented.     

Mechanics of indentation for piezoelectric thin films on elastic substrate

Frictionless normal indentation problem of rigid flat-ended cylindrical, conical and spherical indenters on piezoelectric film, which is either in frictionless contact with or perfectly bonded to an elastic half-space (substrate), is investigated. Both conducting and insulating indenters are considered. With Hankel transform, the general solutions of the homogeneous governing equations for the piezoelectric layer and the elastic half-space are presented. Using the boundary conditions for a vertical point force or a point electric charge, and the boundary conditions on the film/substrate interface, the Green’s functions can be obtained by solving sets of simultaneous linear algebraic equations. The solution of the indentation problem is obtained by integrating these Green’s functions over the contact area with unknown surface tractions or electric charge distribution, which will be determined from the boundary conditions on the contact surface between the indenter and the film. The solution is expressed in terms of dual integral equations that are converted to a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind and solved numerically. Numerical examples are also presented. The comparison between two film/substrate bonding conditions is made. It shows that the indentation rigidity of the film/substrate system is lower when the film is in frictionless contact with the substrate. The effects of the Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the elastic substrate, indenter electrical condition and indenter prescribed electric potential on the indentation responses are presented.     

Solution for dissimilar elastic inclusions in a finite plate using boundary integral equation method

This paper studies the boundary value problem for a finite plate containing two dissimilar inclusions. The matrix and the two inclusions have different elastic properties. The loadings applied along the outer boundary are in equilibrium. The mentioned problem is decomposed into three boundary value problems (BVPs). Two of them are interior BVP for the elastic inclusions, while the other is a BVP for the triply-connected region. Three problems are connected together through the common displacements and tractions along the interface boundaries. Explicit form for the complex variable boundary integral equation (CVBIE) is derived. After discretization of relevant BIEs, the solutions are evaluated numerically. Three numerical examples for different elastic constant combinations are provided.     

The three-dimensional steady-state thermo-elastodynamic problem of moving sources over a half space

A procedure based on the Radon transform and elements of distribution theory is developed to obtain fundamental thermoelastic three-dimensional (3D) solutions for thermal and/or mechanical point sources moving steadily over the surface of a half space. A concentrated heat flux is taken as the thermal source, whereas the mechanical source consists of normal and tangential concentrated loads. It is assumed that the sources move with a constant velocity along a fixed direction. The solutions obtained are exact within the bounds of Biot’s coupled thermo-elastodynamic theory, and results for surface displacements are obtained over the entire speed range (i.e. for sub-Rayleigh, super-Rayleigh/subsonic, transonic and supersonic source speeds). This problem has relevance to situations in Contact Mechanics, Tribology and Dynamic Fracture, and is especially related to the well-known heat checking problem (thermo-mechanical cracking in an unflawed half-space material from high-speed asperity excitations). Our solution technique fully exploits as auxiliary solutions the ones for the corresponding plane-strain and anti-plane shear problems by reducing the original 3D problem to two separate 2D problems. These problems are uncoupled from each other, with the first problem being thermoelastic and the second one pure elastic. In particular, the auxiliary plane-strain problem is completely analogous to the original problem, not only with regard to the field equations but also with regard to the boundary conditions. This makes the technique employed here more advantageous than other techniques, which require the prior determination of a fictitious auxiliary plane-strain problem through solving an integral equation.     

Overall Solution-Difference Bounds on the Effects of Material Inhomogeneities

In this work variational bounds are developed on the difference between the solutions of two boundary-value problems involving linearly elastic material microstructure. Both problems have the same external geometry, boundary conditions and loading, however, one possesses no microstructure, i.e., it is homogeneous, while the other is “perturbed” with inhomogeneities. The bounds developed are solely in terms of the solution to the easier homogeneous material problem, the microstructure of the inhomogeneous problem and the given loading data. There are no unknown constants in the bounds. Furthermore, no calculation of the harder, typically intractable, inhomogeneous material problem is necessary. The bounds developed are obtained under no assumptions on the character of the microstructure of the inhomogeneous material problem, other than it be pointwise positive-definite, as well as under no assumptions on the external loading and geometry. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.