The Equations of Motion of a Plate with Residual Stress

We consider a three-dimensional body which is at rest in a cylindrical configuration of height 2ε. We assume that the material is residually stressed and that it responds elastically to deformations from the reference configuration. Under appropriate assumptions on the data, and using weak-convergence methods, we determine the limit, as ε goes to zero, of the elasto-dynamic problem. The plate problem obtained, as in the case without residual stress, splits into two problems: one governing the in-plane displacement and the other determining the out-of-plane motion.     

Travelling wave solutions for a quasilinear model of field dislocation mechanics

We consider an exact reduction of a model of Field Dislocation Mechanics to a scalar problem in one spatial dimension and investigate the existence of static and slow, rigidly moving single or collections of planar screw dislocation walls in this setting. Two classes of drag coefficient functions are considered, namely those with linear growth near the origin and those with constant or more generally sublinear growth there. A mathematical characterisation of all possible equilibria of these screw wall microstructures is given. We also prove the existence of travelling wave solutions for linear drag coefficient functions at low wave speeds and rule out the existence of nonconstant bounded travelling wave solutions for sublinear drag coefficients functions. It turns out that the appropriate concept of a solution in this scalar case is that of a viscosity solution. The governing equation in the static case is not proper and it is shown that no comparison principle holds. The findings indicate a short-range nature of the stress field of the individual dislocation walls, which indicates that the nonlinearity present in the model may have a stabilising effect. We predict idealised dislocation-free cells of almost arbitrary size interspersed with dipolar dislocation wall microstructures as admissible equilibria of our model, a feature in sharp contrast with predictions of the possible non-monotone equilibria of the corresponding Ginzburg-Landau phase field type gradient flow model.     

Convergence of Peridynamics to Classical Elasticity Theory

The peridynamic model of solid mechanics is a nonlocal theory containing a length scale. It is based on direct interactions between points in a continuum separated from each other by a finite distance. The maximum interaction distance provides a length scale for the material model. This paper addresses the question of whether the peridynamic model for an elastic material reproduces the classical local model as this length scale goes to zero. We show that if the motion, constitutive model, and any nonhomogeneities are sufficiently smooth, then the peridynamic stress tensor converges in this limit to a Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensor that is a function only of the local deformation gradient tensor, as in the classical theory. This limiting Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensor field is differentiable, and its divergence represents the force density due to internal forces. The limiting, or collapsed, stress-strain model satisfies the conditions in the classical theory for angular momentum balance, isotropy, objectivity, and hyperelasticity, provided the original peridynamic constitutive model satisfies the appropriate conditions.      

New inroads in an old subject: Plasticity, from around the atomic to the macroscopic scale

Nonsingular, stressed, dislocation (wall) profiles are shown to be 1-d equilibria of a non-equilibrium theory of Field Dislocation Mechanics (FDM). It is also shown that such equilibrium profiles corresponding to a given level of load cannot generally serve as a travelling wave profile of the governing equation for other values of nearby constant load; however, one case of soft loading with a special form of the dislocation velocity law is demonstrated to have no ‘Peierls barrier’ in this sense. The analysis is facilitated by the formulation of a 1-d, scalar, time-dependent, Hamilton-Jacobi equation as an exact special case of the full 3-d FDM theory accounting for non-convex elastic energy, small, Nye-tensor-dependent core energy, and possibly an energy contribution based on incompatible slip. Relevant nonlinear stability questions, including that of nucleation, are formulated in a non-equilibrium setting. Elementary averaging ideas show a singular perturbation structure in the evolution of the (unsymmetric) macroscopic plastic distortion, thus pointing to the possibility of predicting generally rate-insensitive slow response constrained to a tensorial ‘yield’ surface, while allowing fast excursions off it, even though only simple kinetic assumptions are employed in the microscopic FDM theory. The emergent small viscosity on averaging that serves as the small parameter for the perturbation structure is a robust, almost-geometric consequence of large gradients of slip in the dislocation core and the persistent presence of a large number of dislocations in the averaging volume. In the simplest approximation, the macroscopic yield criterion displays anisotropy based on the microscopic dislocation line and Burgers vector distribution, a dependence on the Laplacian of the incompatible slip tensor and a nonlocal term related to a Stokes-Helmholtz-curl projection of an ‘internal stress’ derived from the incompatible slip energy.     

Dynamic Response and Stability of a Rotating Asymmetric Shaft Mounted on a Flexible Base

This paper presents the dynamic response and stability of an asymmetric rotating shaft supported by a flexible base near the major critical speed and the secondary critical speed. In this system, the base is movable only in a direction transversal to the shaft. In the theoretical analysis, taking into account the effects of damping, the unstable vibrations near the major critical speed are mainly considered, and also the behavior of the forced oscillations near the major and secondary critical speeds is investigated. From the theoretical analysis, the unstable region is found to be divided into at most six subregions which depend on the mass of the base, the stiffness of the base, and the asymmetry of the shaft. In addition, the resonance curves near unstable subregions are calculated. It is found that there exist two shapes of resonance curves. In experiments, five types of response curves, which contained n unstable subregion (n = 1, 2, ¨, 5) near the major critical speed, were obtained by changing the mass of the base. It was ascertained that the theoretical results for the behavior near the major critical speed agreed quantitatively with the experimental results.     

Flow of a mixture of a viscous fluid and a granular solid in an orthogonal rheometer

In this paper, we study the flow of a linearly viscous fluid and a granular solid, consisting of many particles, situated between two parallel plates rotating about different axes. Flow in orthogonal rheometers has been studied for many viscoelastic fluids so that their rheological properties can be measured. The mixture is modeled using the theory of interacting continua, and constitutive relations for the fluid phase, the granular phase, and the interaction forces are provided. For a very special case, an analytical solution to the equations of motion is also provided.     

On the Constituent Structure of a Classical Mixture

Thiw work is concerned with the formulation of constituent interactions and corresponding balance relations in classical mixture theory as based on a model for the (classical) constituent structure of such a mixture.     

Size-dependent elastic properties of a single-walled carbon nanotube via a molecular mechanics model

An analytical model based on a molecular mechanics approach is presented to relate the elastic properties of a single-walled carbon nanotube to its atomic structure. We derive closed-form expressions for elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio as a function of the nanotube diameter. Properties at different length scales are directly connected via these expressions. The analytically calculated elastic properties for achiral nanotubes using force constants obtained from experimental data of graphite are compared to those based on tight binding numerical calculations. This study represents a preliminary effort to develop analytical methods of molecular mechanics for applications in nanostructure modeling.     

Mircopolar Model of Fracture for Composite Material

Failure of a composite is a complex process accompanied by irreversible changes in the microstructure of the material. Microscopic mechanisms are known of the accumulation of damage and failure of the type of localized and multiple ruptures of the fibers delamination along interphase boundaries, and also mechanisms associated with fracture of fibers. In this work, we propose a mathematical model of the local mechanism of failure of a composite material randomly reinforced with a system of short fibers. We implement the Cosserat moment model of crack tip for filament material, reinforced with whiskers or in fiber- reinforced polycrystalline materials. It is assumed that the angular distribution of the fibers is isotropic and the elastic characteristics of the fibers are considerably higher than the elastic constants of the matrix. We implement the homogenization procedure for the effective Cosserat constants similarly to the effective elastic constants. The singular solution in the vicinity of the crack tip in the Cosserat moment model is found. Using this solution, we examine the bending stresses in the filaments due to effective moment stresses in the material. The constructed model describes the phenomenon of fracture of the fibers occurring during crack propagation in those composites. The following assumptions are used as the main hypotheses for the micromechanical model. The matrix contains a nucleation crack. When the load is increased the crack grows and its boundary comes into contact with the reinforcing fibers. A further increase of the stress causes bending of the fiber. When~the fiber curvature reaches a specific critical value, the fiber ruptures. If the stress at infinity is given, the fibers no longer delay the development of failure during crack propagation The degree of bending distortion of the fiber in the vicinity of the boundary of the crack is determined by the moment model of the material. The necessity to take into account the moment stresses in the failure theory of the reinforced material was stressed in [Muki and Sternberg (1965) Zeitschrift f angew Math und Phys 16:611–615; Garajeu and Soos (2003) Math Mech Solids 8(2):189–218; Ostoja-Starzewski et al (1999) Mech Res Commun 26:387–396]. The moment Cosserat stresses were accounted also for inhomogeneous biomechanical materials by Buechner and Lakes (2003) Bio Mech Model Mechanobiol 1: 295–301. We should also mention the important methodological studies [Sternberg and Muki (1967) J Solids Struct 1:69–95; Atkinson and Leppington (1977) Int J Solids Struct 13: 1103–1122] concerned with the moment stresses in homogeneous fracture mechanics.     

Modeling of macroscopic response of phase transforming materials under quasi-static loading

Based on a continuum model of solid-solid phase transformations, the macroscopic response of a bar of a thermoelastic phase transforming material loaded quasistatically is investigated. A critical loading rate is identified for the evolution of a single phase boundary in the bar during an isothermal process. It is shown that, when the loading rate is larger than this critical loading rate, nucleation occurs either continuously or at multiple sites; when the loading rate is lower than this critical loading rate, the size of the hysteresis loop increases with increasing loading rate, and decreases with an increase in the mobility of the phase boundary. The heat conduction due to the heat generated by the latent heat of the phase transformation is considered for a special case.     

An energy formulation of continuum magneto-electro-elasticity with applications

We present an energy formulation of continuum electro-elasticity and magneto-electro-elasticity. Based on the principle of minimum free energy, we propose a form of total free energy of the system in three dimensions, and then systematically derive the theories for a hierarchy of materials including dielectric elastomers, piezoelectric ceramics, ferroelectrics, flexoelectric materials, magnetic elastomers, magnetoelectric materials, piezo-electric–magnetic materials among others. The effects of mechanical, electrical and magnetic boundary devices, external charges, polarizations and magnetization are taken into account in formulating the free energy. The linear and nonlinear boundary value problems governing these materials are explicitly derived as the Euler–Lagrange equations of the principle of minimum free energy. Finally, we illustrate the applications of the formulations by presenting solutions to a few simple problems and give an outlook of potential applications.     

Helical coil buckling mechanism for a stiff nanowire on an elastomeric substrate

When a stiff nanowire is deposited on a compliant soft substrate, it may buckle into a helical coil form when the system is compressed. Using theoretical and finite element method (FEM) analyses, the detailed three-dimensional coil buckling mechanism for a silicon nanowire (SiNW) on a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate is studied. A continuum mechanics approach based on the minimization of the strain energy in the SiNW and elastomeric substrate is developed. Due to the helical buckling, the bending strain in SiNW is significantly reduced and the maximum local strain is almost uniformly distributed along SiNW. Based on the theoretical model, the energy landscape for different buckling modes of SiNW on PDMS substrate is given, which shows that both the in-plane and out-of-plane buckling modes have the local minimum potential energy, whereas the helical buckling model has the global minimum potential energy. Furthermore, the helical buckling spacing and amplitudes are deduced, taking into account the influences of the elastic properties and dimensions of SiNWs. These features are verified by systematic FEM simulations and parallel experiments. As the effective compressive strain in elastomeric substrate increases, the buckling profile evolves from a vertical ellipse to a lateral ellipse, and then approaches to a circle when the effective compressive strain is larger than 30%. The study may shed useful insights on the design and optimization of high-performance stretchable electronics and 3D complex nano-structures.     

Viscoelastic Solids of Exponential Type. II. Free Energies,Stability and Attractors

The asymptotic behavior for solutions of the semilinear motion equation of a linear viscoelastic solid of exponential type (VSET) is studied and the existence of a global attractor is proved. These results are obtained by means of a suitable class of quadratic free energies defined on the minimal state space and making use of semigroup techniques. This is the second part of a plan which was started in a previous paper [6] by the study of state-space representation, minimality and controllability for VSET.     

Geometric derivation of the microscopic stress: A covariant central force decomposition

We revisit the derivation of the microscopic stress, linking the statistical mechanics of particle systems and continuum mechanics. The starting point in our geometric derivation is the Doyle–Ericksen formula, which states that the Cauchy stress tensor is the derivative of the free-energy with respect to the ambient metric tensor and which follows from a covariance argument. Thus, our approach to define the microscopic stress tensor does not rely on the statement of balance of linear momentum as in the classical Irving–Kirkwood–Noll approach. Nevertheless, the resulting stress tensor satisfies balance of linear and angular momentum. Furthermore, our approach removes the ambiguity in the definition of the microscopic stress in the presence of multibody interactions by naturally suggesting a canonical and physically motivated force decomposition into pairwise terms, a key ingredient in this theory. As a result, our approach provides objective expressions to compute a microscopic stress for a system in equilibrium and for force-fields expanded into multibody interactions of arbitrarily high order. We illustrate the proposed methodology with molecular dynamics simulations of a fibrous protein using a force-field involving up to 5-body interactions.