Motion decomposition,frame-indifferent derivatives,and constitutive relations at large displacement gradients from the viewpoint of multilevel modeling

Widespread approaches to generalizing geometrically linear constitutive relations to the case of large displacement gradients have been considered. These approaches are based on the replacement of the material derivatives of stress and strain tensors by frame-indifferent corotational or convective derivatives. The correctness of choosing the indifferent derivatives is analyzed from a more general viewpoint of motion decomposition into rigid and strain-induced motion. It is shown that the use of the Zaremba-Jaumann derivative in constitutive relations corresponds to motion decomposition by the Cauchy-Helmholtz theorem according to which instantaneous rigid rotation of a material particle with small neighborhood is described by the vorticity tensor. The relations derived with the use of the so-called "logarithmic spin" are analyzed. It is noted that the spin tensors entering into these relations are not associated with the material fibers (in particular with the symmetry axes of anisotropic materials) during the entire studied process of deformation. Hence these spins do not describe the rotation of the reference frame (crystallographic one for metals) in which the material property tensor is defined. A new method of motion decomposition is proposed on the basis of a two-level (macro and meso) approach for single and polycrystalline metals. The mesoscopic spin is determined by the rotation rate of the corotational coordinate system associated with the crystallographic direction and crystallographic plane. Mesoscopic constitutive relations are formulated using the proposed spin. The spin of a representative macrovolume is determined by averaging the spins of the crystallites contained in this volume. This spin is used to formulate rate-type elastic constitutive equations. Examples are given to illustrate the stress state determination for loading along closed strain paths and two-segment paths for isotropic and anisotropic (with cubic symmetry, hcp) elastic materials, and an elastoviscoplastic fcc crystallite. The determination is carried out by using the corotational derivatives in the constitutive relations which are obtained by different motion decomposition methods.     

Two-scale models of polycrystals: Evaluation of validity of Ilyushin’s isotropy postulate at large displacement gradients

This paper discusses multiscale models of inelastic deformation of single- and polycrystals, which are based on crystal plasticity theories, as applied to the verification and justification of Ilyushin’s isotropy postulate (in a special form) at large displacement gradients. Different approaches to motion decomposition on the macroscale into quasi-rigid (described by the motion of a corotational coordinate system) and strain-induced motion (a relatively moving coordinate system) are considered. The strain path is defined in terms of a moving coordinate system. Corresponding kinematic effects are defined in terms of a laboratory coordinate system. In this case, the loading process image is constructed and loading conditions are specified in terms of the moving coordinate system. Calculations are performed for two types of strain paths with different curvature by assuming two different hypotheses about quasi-rigid motion on the macroscale: (i) the spin of the moving coordinate system is equal to an averaged mesoscale spin, and (ii) the spin is equal to the macroscale vortex. It is shown that the isotropy postulate is more valid in the case of assuming the first hypothesis.     

Corotational Finite Element Formulation for Virtual-Reality Based Surgery Simulators

Surgical simulation provides a means for trainees to develop surgical competence that encompasses requisite knowledge, technical and cognitive skills and decision-making ability. Considering virtual-reality based surgery simulators, the key requirement is sufficiently accurate and numerically efficient computation of deformation behavior of soft tissues, which is highly nonlinear. The paper offers a simplified geometrically nonlinear corotational finite element formulation to meet the imposed requirements. The approach is used in combination with a rather simple type of finite element and an appropriate solver is chosen for fast computation of dynamical behavior. The finite element formulation is enriched with a coupled-mesh technique to enable modelling of complex geometries by relatively simple computational models. A few examples of models of internal organs are provided to discuss the aspects of the developed tools.     

Large-amplitude nonlinear vibrations of a Mooney–Rivlin rectangular membrane

An analysis of the linear and nonlinear vibration response and stability of a pre-stretched hyperelastic rectangular membrane under harmonic lateral pressure and finite initial deformations is presented in this paper. Geometric nonlinearity due to finite deformations and material nonlinearity associated with the hyperelastic constitutive law are taken into account. The membrane is assumed to be made of an isotropic, homogeneous, and incompressible Mooney–Rivlin material. The results for a neo-Hookean material are obtained as a particular case and a comparison of these two constitutive models is carried out. First, the exact solution of the membrane under a biaxial stretch is obtained, being this initial stress state responsible for the membrane stiffness. The equations of motion of the pre-stretched membrane are then derived. From the linearized equations, the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the membrane are analytically obtained for both materials. The natural modes are then used to approximate the nonlinear deformation field using the Galerkin method. A detailed parametric analysis shows the strong influence of the stretching ratios and material parameters on the linear and nonlinear oscillations of the membrane. Frequency–amplitude relations, resonance curves, and bifurcation diagrams, are used to illustrate the nonlinear dynamics of the membrane. The present results are compared favorably with the results evaluated for the same membrane using a nonlinear finite element formulation.     

On the correct representation of bending and axial deformation in the absolute nodal coordinate formulation with an elastic line approach

In finite element methods that are based on position and slope coordinates, a representation of axial and bending deformation by means of an elastic line approach has become popular. Such beam and plate formulations based on the so-called absolute nodal coordinate formulation have not yet been verified sufficiently enough with respect to analytical results or classical nonlinear rod theories. Examining the existing planar absolute nodal coordinate element, which uses a curvature proportional bending strain expression, it turns out that the deformation does not fully agree with the solution of the geometrically exact theory and, even more serious, the normal force is incorrect. A correction based on the classical ideas of the extensible elastica and geometrically exact theories is applied and a consistent strain energy and bending moment relations are derived. The strain energy of the solid finite element formulation of the absolute nodal coordinate beam is based on the St. Venant-Kirchhoff material: therefore, the strain energy is derived for the latter case and compared to classical nonlinear rod theories. The error in the original absolute nodal coordinate formulation is documented by numerical examples. The numerical example of a large deformation cantilever beam shows that the normal force is incorrect when using the previous approach, while a perfect agreement between the absolute nodal coordinate formulation and the extensible elastica can be gained when applying the proposed modifications. The numerical examples show a very good agreement of reference analytical and numerical solutions with the solutions of the proposed beam formulation for the case of large deformation pre-curved static and dynamic problems, including buckling and eigenvalue analysis. The resulting beam formulation does not employ rotational degrees of freedom and therefore has advantages compared to classical beam elements regarding energy-momentum conservation.     

Dynamic modeling of beams with non-material,deformation-dependent boundary conditions

In conventional problems of structural mechanics, both kinematic boundary conditions and external forces are prescribed at fixed material points that are known in advance. If, however, a structure may move relative to its supports, the position of the imposed constraint relations generally changes in the course of motion. A class of problems which inherently exhibits this particular type of non-material boundary conditions is that of axially moving continua. Despite varying in time, the positions of the supports relative to the material points of the body have usually assumed to be known a priori throughout the deformation process in previous investigations. This requirement is abandoned in the present paper, where the dynamic behavior of a structure is studied, which may move freely relative to one of its supports. As a consequence, the position of such a non-material boundary relative to the structure does not only change in time but also depends on the current state of deformation of the body. The variational formulation of the equilibrium relations of a slender beam that may undergo large deformations is presented. To this end, a theory based on Reissner's geometrically exact relations for the plane deformation of beams is adopted, in which shear deformation is neglected for the sake of brevity. Before a finite element scheme is developed, a deformation-dependent transformation of the beam's material coordinate is introduced, by which the varying positions of the constraint relations are mapped onto fixed points with respect to the new non-material coordinate. By means of this transformation, additional convective terms emerge from the virtual work of the inertia forces, whose symmetry properties turn out to be different from what has previously been presented in the literature. In order to obtain approximate solutions, a finite element discretization utilizing absolute nodal displacements as coordinates is subsequently used in characteristic numerical examples, which give an insight into the complex dynamic behavior of problems of this type. On the one hand, the free vibrations of a statically pre-deformed beam are investigated, on the other hand, an extended version of the sliding beam problem is studied.     

A full Eulerian finite difference approach for solving fluid–structure coupling problems

A new simulation method for solving fluid–structure coupling problems has been developed. All the basic equations are numerically solved on a fixed Cartesian grid using a finite difference scheme. A volume-of-fluid formulation [Hirt, Nichols, J. Comput. Phys. 39 (1981) 201], which has been widely used for multiphase flow simulations, is applied to describing the multi-component geometry. The temporal change in the solid deformation is described in the Eulerian frame by updating a left Cauchy-Green deformation tensor, which is used to express constitutive equations for nonlinear Mooney–Rivlin materials. In this paper, various verifications and validations of the present full Eulerian method, which solves the fluid and solid motions on a fixed grid, are demonstrated, and the numerical accuracy involved in the fluid–structure coupling problems is examined.     

Transport properties of cholesteric liquid crystals studied by molecular dynamics simulation

We have studied the transport properties of a cholesteric liquid crystal by molecular dynamics simulation. The molecules consist of six soft ellipsoids of revolution, the axes of which are perpendicular to the line connecting their centres of symmetry. The angle between the symmetry axes of two adjacent ellipsoids is 7.5°, so the molecules are twisted. At high densities they form a cholesteric phase where their twist axes are oriented around the cholesteric axis and the symmetry axes of the ellipsoids are approximately parallel to the local director. We have been particularly interested in thermomechanical coupling or the Lehmann effect, which arises when a temperature gradient parallel to the cholesteric axis induces a torque that rotates the director. The converse is also possible: rotation of the director can drive a heat current. The thermal conductivity, the twist viscosity, the cross-coupling coefficient between the temperature gradient and the torque, and the cross-coupling coefficient between the director angular velocity and the heat current have been calculated by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation methods (NEMD) and by evaluation of the Green-Kubo relations from equilibrium simulations. Two ensembles have been utilized: the ordinary canonical ensemble and another ensemble where the director angular velocity is constrained to be a constant of motion. All the methods give consistent results for the twist viscosity and the thermal conductivity. The NEMD estimates of the cross-coupling coefficients agree within a relative error of 20%. This is consistent with the Onsager reciprocity relations that state that the two cross-coupling coefficients should be equal. The relative error of the Green-Kubo estimates is about 100% even though the order of magnitude is the same as that of the NEMD estimates.     

具有大范围运动和非线性变形的空间柔性梁的精确动力学建模

研究具有大范围运动和非线性变形的空间柔性梁的有限元动力学建模.首先在精确描述空间柔性梁的非线性变形的基础上,采用有限元方法对梁结构进行离散,导出其动能、势能及外力对应的广义力,然后利用Lagrange方程建立了空间柔性梁的精确动力学方程.该方程在原有一次耦合模型的基础上,增加了新的表征纵向、横向、侧向弯曲变形,以及扭转变形的耦合项,同时包含了变形运动与大范围运动之间的相互耦合项.本建模方法和所得结论可为以后空间柔性梁的动力学特性分析作以参考.     

对于具有大范围运动和非线性变形的柔性梁的有限元动力学建模

研究具有大范围运动和非线性变形的柔性梁的有限元动力学建模.采用有限元方法对梁结构进行离散,利用Lagrange方程建立系统的精确动力学方程.该方程不仅增加了新的表征纵向、横向、侧向弯曲变形,以及扭转变形的耦合项,同时包含了变形运动与大范围运动之间的相互耦合项.     

Periodic geometrically nonlinear free vibrations of circular plates

The geometrically nonlinear free vibrations of thin isotropic circular plates are investigated using a multi-degree-of-freedom model, which is based on thin plate theory and on Von Kármán's nonlinear strain-displacement relations. The middle plane in-plane displacements are included in the formulation and the common axisymmetry restriction is not imposed. The equations of motion are derived by the principle of the virtual work and an approximated model is achieved by assuming that the in-plane and transverse displacement fields are given by weighted series of spatial functions. These spatial functions are based on hierarchical sets of polynomials, which have been successfully used in p-version finite elements for beams and rectangular plates, and on trigonometric functions. Employing the harmonic balance method, the differential equations of motion are converted into a nonlinear algebraic form and then solved by a continuation method. Convergence with the number of shape functions and of harmonics is analysed. The numerical results obtained are presented and compared with available published results; it is shown that the hierarchical sets of functions provide good results with a small number of degrees of freedom. Internal resonances are found and the ensuing multimodal oscillations are described.     

Acoustoelastic analysis of reflected waves in nearly incompressible, hyper-elastic materials: forward and inverse problems

Many materials (e.g., rubber or biologic tissues) are "nearly" incompressible and often assumed to be incompressible in their constitutive equations. This assumption hinders realistic analyses of wave motion including acoustoelasticity. In this study, this constraint is relaxed and the reflected waves from nearly incompressible, hyper-elastic materials are examined. Specifically, reflection coefficients are considered from the interface of water and uni-axially prestretched rubber. Both forward and inverse problems are experimentally and analytically studied with the incident wave perpendicular to the interface. In the forward problem, the wave reflection coefficient at the interface is evaluated with strain energy functions for nearly incompressible materials in order to compute applied strain. For the general inverse problem, mathematical relations are derived that identify both uni-axial strains and normalized material constants from reflected wave data. The validity of this method of analysis is demonstrated via an experiment with stretched rubber. Results demonstrate that applied strains and normalized material coefficients can be simultaneously determined from the reflected wave data alone if they are collected at several different (but unknown) levels of strain. This study therefore indicates that acoustoelasticity, with an appropriate constitutive formulation, can determine strain and material properties in hyper-elastic, nearly incompressible materials.     

Crystal plasticity-based constitutive modelling of irradiated bcc structures

A constitutive crystal plasticity model is proposed and developed for the inelastic deformation of irradiated bcc ferritic/martensitic steels. Defects found in these irradiated materials are used as substructure variables in the model. Insights from lower length- and time-scale simulations are used to frame the kinematic and substructure evolution relations of the governing deformation mechanisms. Models for evolution of mobile and immobile dislocations, as well as interstitial loops (formed due to irradiation), are developed. A rate theory-based approach is used to model the evolution of point defects generated during irradiation. The model is used to simulate the quasi-static tensile and creep response of a martensitic steel over a range of loading histories.     

Maps of deformation-induced structures in neutron-irradiated metals and alloys

Using dislocation kinetic equations, maps of deformation-induced structures observed in neutron-irradiated metals and alloys are theoretically grounded. The critical strains and radiation doses for the transition from cellular and chaotic dislocation structures to heterogeneous channel-like deformation structures are found, and the relations of the critical strains and radiation doses to the kinetic coefficients that determine the evolution of the density of dislocations and radiation defects in irradiated materials are established. These relations are used to quantitatively analyze the effect of irradiation on the strength and deformation properties of Ni and martensitic steel A533B available in the literature. The critical conditions for the appearance of irradiation embrittlement in irradiated materials are considered.     

A physical interpretation of softening of pressure-sensitive and anisotropic materials

Several new dynamic models are proposed to explain the mechanical behaviour of softening of pressure-sensitive and anisotropic materials at a macroscopic level. If a pressure-sensitive material is loaded by a force and a variable pressure or an anisotropic material is subjected to a load with a changeable loading direction relative to the material frame, their stress–strain relationships become more complicated. Mechanical behaviours of these stress–strain relationships have to cover the feature concerning the change of pressure or loading direction, i.e. mechanical properties of pressure-sensitive material corresponding to different pressure state or anisotropic material relating to different loading direction will play an important role in deciding their stress–strain relationships. Such shift of material properties due to the variable pressure or loading history may significantly expand the traditional concept of the stability of material deformation, and the second order of plastic work being negative may be a response of stable plastic deformation, which is commonly called softening.