The effect of fiber recruitment on the swelling of a pressurized anisotropic non-linearly elastic tube

We study the effect of fiber recruitment on the mechanical response of a fiber reinforced non-linearly elastic tube that is both swollen and pressurized. Attention is restricted to cylindrically symmetric tube deformation. The constitutive model permits fibers to support tension, but not compression. While many combinations of pressure and swelling cause all of the fibers to be recruited for load support, both large swelling and large deswelling can give rise to fiber derecruitment at certain locations in the tube. This leads to less channel opening than would be the case if the fibers provided support while contracted. The transition between mechanically active and mechanically inactive fibers can be described in terms of the quasi-static motion of a fiber recruiting interface.     

On the Existence of Strong Solutions to a Coupled Fluid-Structure Evolution Problem

We consider here a model of fluid-structure evolution problem which, in particular, has been largely studied from the numerical point of view. We prove the existence of a strong solution to this problem.     

Multidimensional stability of martensite twins under regular kinetics

This paper considers phase boundaries governed by regular kinetic relations as first proposed by Abeyaratne and Knowles [1990. On the driving traction acting on a surface of strain discontinuity in a continuum. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 38 (3), 345-360; 1991. Kinetic relations and the propagation of phase boundaries in solids. Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 114, 119-154]. It shows that static configurations of hyperelastic materials, in which two different martensitic (monoclinic) states meet along a planar interface, are dynamically stable towards fully three-dimensional perturbations. For that purpose, the reduced stability (or reduced Lopatinski) function associated to the static twin [Freistühler and Plaza, 2007. Normal modes and nonlinear stability behavior of dynamic phase boundaries in elastic materials. Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 186 (1), 1-24] is computed numerically. The results show that the interface is weakly stable under Maxwellian kinetics expressing conservation of energy across the boundary, whereas it is uniformly stable with respect to linearly dissipative kinetic rules of Abeyaratne and Knowles type.     

Singular limit of equations for linear viscoelastic fluids with periodic boundary conditions

We consider a one-parameter family of problems, governing, for any fixed parameter, the motion of a linear viscoelastic fluid in a two-dimensional domain with periodic boundary conditions. The asymptotic behavior of each problem is analyzed, by proving the existence of the global attractor. Moreover, letting the parameter go to zero, since the memory effect disappears, we obtain a limiting problem, given by the Navier-Stokes equations. For any fixed parameter, we construct an exponential attractor. The resulting family is robust, meaning that these exponential attractors converge, in an appropriate sense, to an exponential attractor of the limiting problem.     

A New Derivation of Jeffery’s Equation

In this article, we present a modern derivation of Jeffery’s equation for the motion of a small rigid body immersed in a Navier–Stokes flow, using methods of asymptotic analysis. While Jeffery’s result represents the leading order equations of a singularly perturbed flow problem involving ellipsoidal bodies, our formulation is for bodies of general shape and we also derive the equations of the next relevant order.      

On Compactness, Domain Dependence and Existence of Steady State Solutions to Compressible Isothermal Navier–Stokes Equations

The steady state system of isothermal Navier–Stokes equations is considered in two dimensional domain including an obstacle. The shape optimisation problem of minimisation of the drag with respect to the admissible shape of the obstacle is defined. The generalized solutions for the Navier–Stokes equations are introduced. The existence of an optimal shape is proved in the class of admissible domains. In general the solutions are not unique for the problem under considerations.     

On the Averaging of Symmetric Positive-Definite Tensors

In this paper we present properly invariant averaging procedures for symmetric positive-definite tensors which are based on different measures of nearness of symmetric positive-definite tensors. These procedures intrinsically account for the positive-definite property of the tensors to be averaged. They are independent of the coordinate system, preserve material symmetries, and more importantly, they are invariant under inversion. The results of these averaging methods are compared with the results of other methods including that proposed by Cowin and Yang (J. of Elasticity 46 (1997) pp. 151–180.) for the case of the elasticity tensor of generalized Hooke's law.     

A New Class of Weak Solutions of the Navier–Stokes Equations with Nonhomogeneous Data

We investigate a class of weak solutions, the so-called very weak solutions, to stationary and nonstationary Navier–Stokes equations in a bounded domain . This notion was introduced by Amann [3], [4] for the nonstationary case with nonhomogeneous boundary data leading to a very large solution class of low regularity. Here we are mainly interested in the investigation of the “largest possible” class of solutions u for the more general problem with arbitrary divergence k = div u, boundary data g = u|_∂Ω and an external force f, as weak as possible, but maintaining uniqueness. In principle, we will follow Amann’s approach.     

Existence of Weak Solutions for the Three-Dimensional Motion of an Elastic Structure in an Incompressible Fluid

We study here the three-dimensional motion of an elastic structure immersed in an incompressible viscous fluid. The structure and the fluid are contained in a fixed bounded connected set Ω. We show the existence of a weak solution for regularized elastic deformations as long as elastic deformations are not too important (in order to avoid interpenetration and preserve orientation on the structure) and no collisions between the structure and the boundary occur. As the structure moves freely in the fluid, it seems natural (and it corresponds to many physical applications) to consider that its rigid motion (translation and rotation) may be large. The existence result presented here has been announced in [4]. Some improvements have been provided on the model: the model considered in [4] is a simplified model where the structure motion is modelled by decoupled and linear equations for the translation, the rotation and the purely elastic displacement. In what follows, we consider on the structure a model which represents the motion of a structure with large rigid displacements and small elastic perturbations. This model, introduced by [15] for a structure alone, leads to coupled and nonlinear equations for the translation, the rotation and the elastic displacement.     

Some Basis-Free Formulae for the Time Rate and Conjugate Stress of Logarithmic Strain Tensor

In this paper, two kinds of tensor equations are studied and their solutions are derived in general cases. Then, some compact basis-free representations for the time rate and conjugate stress of logarithmic strain tensors are proposed using six different methods. In addition, relations between the coefficients in these expressions are disclosed. Subsequently, all these basis-free expressions given in this paper are validated for the cases of distinct stretches and double coalescence, respectively.