Elliptic inhomogeneities and inclusions in anti-plane couple stress elasticity with application to nano-composites

It is well-known that classical continuum theory has certain deficiencies in predicting material’s behavior at the micro- and nanoscales, where the size effect is not negligible. Higher order continuum theories introduce new material constants into the formulation, making the interpretation of the size effect possible. One famous version of these theories is the couple stress theory, invoked to study the anti-plane problems of the elliptic inhomogeneities and inclusions in the present work. The formulation in elliptic coordinates leads to an exact series solution involving Mathieu functions. Subsequently, the elastic fields of a single inhomogeneity in conjunction with the Mori–Tanaka theory is employed to estimate the overall anti-plane shear moduli of composites with uni-directional elliptic cylindrical fibers. The dependence of the anti-plane elastic moduli on several important physical parameters such as size, aspect ratio and rigidity of the fiber, the characteristic length of the constituents, and the orientation of the reinforcements is analyzed. Based on the available data in the literature, certain nano-composite models have been proposed and their overall behavior estimated using the present theory.     

Some basic contact problems in couple stress elasticity

Indentation tests have long been a standard method for material characterization due to the fact that they provide an easy, inexpensive, non-destructive and objective method of evaluating basic properties from small volumes of materials. As the contact scales in such experiments reduce progressively (micro to nano-scales) the internal material lengths become important and their effect upon the macroscopic response cannot be ignored. In the present study, we derive general solutions for three basic two-dimensional (2D) plane-strain contact problems within the framework of the generalized continuum theory of couple-stress elasticity. This theory introduces characteristic material lengths in order to describe the pertinent scale effects that emerge from the underlying microstructure and has proved to be very effective for modeling microstructured materials. By using this theory, we initially study the problem of the indentation of a deformable elastic half-plane by a flat punch, then by a cylindrical indentor, and finally by a shallow wedge indentor. Our approach is based on singular integral equations which have resulted from a treatment of the mixed boundary value problems via integral transforms and generalized functions. The results show significant departure from the predictions of classical elasticity revealing that it is inadequate to analyze indentation problems in microstructured materials employing only classical contact mechanics.     

Nonconventional thermodynamics,indeterminate couple stress elasticity and heat conduction

We present a phenomenological thermodynamic framework for continuum systems exhibiting responses which may be nonlocal in space and for which short time scales may be important. Nonlocality in space is engendered by state variables of gradient type, while nonlocalities over time can be modelled, e.g. by assuming the rate of the heat flux vector to enter into the heat conduction law. The central idea is to restate the energy budget of the system by postulating further balance laws of energy, besides the classical one. This allows for the proposed theory to deal with nonequilibrium state variables, which are excluded by the second law in conventional thermodynamics. The main features of our approach are explained by discussing micropolar indeterminate couple stress elasticity and heat conduction theories.     

Inclusions and inhomogeneities in strain gradient elasticity with couple stresses and related problems

At small length scales and/or in presence of large field gradients, the implicit long wavelength assumption of classical elasticity breaks down. Postulating a form of second gradient elasticity with couple stresses as a suitable phenomenological model for small-scale elastic phenomena, we herein extend Eshelby’s classical formulation for inclusions and inhomogeneities. While the modified size-dependent Eshelby’s tensor and hence the complete elastic state of inclusions containing transformation strains or eigenstrains is explicitly derived, the corresponding inhomogeneity problem leads to integrals equations which do not appear to have closed-form solutions. To that end, Eshelby’s equivalent inclusion method is extended to the present framework in form of a perturbation series that then can be used to approximate the elastic state of inhomogeneities. The approximate scheme for inhomogeneities also serves as the basis for establishing expressions for the effective properties of composites in second gradient elasticity with couple stresses. The present work is expected to find application towards nano-inclusions and certain types of composites in addition to being the basis for subsequent non-linear homogenization schemes.     

Integral representations for a nonhomogeneous region in couple stress theory of elasticity

In an infinite space a Cosserat medium (with forced rotations) is subjected to a singular concentrated force. The medium is nonhomogeneous and consist of two regular regions where the elastic constants differ. Formulas are derived for the displacements in both the internal and the external region. With the help of this Green's function matrix integral representations are derived for the displacements.     

Coaxiality of strain and stress in anisotropic linear elasticity

For a linearly elastic anisotropic body there are at least two rotations of the principal axes of strain such that the stress and strain tensors become coaxial. These rotations correspond to critical points for the stored energy, viewed as a function of the relative orientation between the body and the strain tensor.Supported by Gruppo Nazionale per la Fisica Matematica of C.N.R. (Italy).     

Couple stress based strain gradient theory for elasticity

The deformation behavior of materials in the micron scale has been experimentally shown to be size dependent. In the absence of stretch and dilatation gradients, the size dependence can be explained using classical couple stress theory in which the full curvature tensor is used as deformation measures in addition to the conventional strain measures. In the couple stress theory formulation, only conventional equilibrium relations of forces and moments of forces are used. The couple's association with position is arbitrary. In this paper, an additional equilibrium relation is developed to govern the behavior of the couples. The relation constrained the couple stress tensor to be symmetric, and the symmetric curvature tensor became the only properly conjugated high order strain measures in the theory to have a real contribution to the total strain energy of the system. On the basis of this modification, a linear elastic model for isotropic materials is developed. The torsion of a cylindrical bar and the pure bending of a flat plate of infinite width are analyzed to illustrate the effect of the modification.     

Analytical solutions to general anti-plane shear problems in finite elasticity

This paper presents a pure complementary energy variational method for solving a general anti-plane shear problem in finite elasticity. Based on the canonical duality–triality theory developed by the author, the nonlinear/nonconvex partial differential equations for the large deformation problem are converted into an algebraic equation in dual space, which can, in principle, be solved to obtain a complete set of stress solutions. Therefore, a general analytical solution form of the deformation is obtained subjected to a compatibility condition. Applications are illustrated by examples with both convex and nonconvex stored strain energies governed by quadratic-exponential and power-law material models, respectively. Results show that the nonconvex variational problem could have multiple solutions at each material point, the complementary gap function and the triality theory can be used to identify both global and local extremal solutions, while the popular convexity conditions (including rank-one condition) provide mainly local minimal criteria and the Legendre–Hadamard condition (i.e., the so-called strong ellipticity condition) does not guarantee uniqueness of solutions. This paper demonstrates again that the pure complementary energy principle and the triality theory play important roles in finite deformation theory and nonconvex analysis.     

Remarks on the energy release rate for an antiplane moving crack in couple stress elasticity

This paper is concerned with the steady-state propagation of an antiplane semi-infinite crack in couple stress elastic materials. A distributed loading applied at the crack faces and moving with the same velocity of the crack tip is considered, and the influence of the loading profile variations and microstructural effects on the dynamic energy release rate is investigated. The behavior of both energy release rate and maximum total shear stress when the crack tip speed approaches the critical speed (either that of the shear waves or that of the localized surface waves) is studied. The limit case corresponding to vanishing characteristic scale lengths is addressed both numerically and analytically by means of a comparison with classical elasticity results.     

Anisotropic plastic stress field at a mixed-mode crack tip under plane and anti-plane strain

On condition that any perfectly plastic stress component at a crack tip is nothingbut the function ofθ.by making use of equilibrium equations,anisotropic plastic stress-strain-rate relations,compatibility equations and Hill anisotropic plastic yieldcondition,in the present paper,we derive the generally analytical expressions of theanisotropic plastic stress field at a mixed-mode crack tip under plane and anti-planestrain.Applying these generally analytical expressions to the mixed-mode cracks,wecan obtain the analytical expressions of anisotropic plastic stress fields at the tips ofmixed-modeⅠ-Ⅲ,Ⅱ-ⅢandⅠ-Ⅱ-Ⅲcracks.     

On perfectly stress field at a mixed-mode crack tip under plane and anti-plane strain

In [1], under the condition that all the perfectly plastic stress components at a crack tip are functions of ϕ only, making use of equilibrium equations, stress-strain rate relations, compatibility equations and yield condition. Lin derived the general analytical expressions of the perfectly plastic stress field at a mixed-mode crack tip under plane and anti-plane strain. But in [1] there were several restrictions on the proportionality factor γ in the stress-strain rate relations, such as supposing that γ is independent of ϕ and supposing that γ=c or cr⁻¹. In this paper, we abolish these restrictions. The cases in [1], γ=cr^d (n=0 or-1) are the special cases of this paper.     

A new modified couple stress theory for anisotropic elasticity and microscale laminated Kirchhoff plate model

A new modified couple stress theory for anisotropic elasticity is proposed. This theory contains three material length scale parameters. Differing from the modified couple stress theory, the couple stress constitutive relationships are introduced for anisotropic elasticity, in which the curvature (rotation gradient) tensor is asymmetric and the couple stress moment tensor is symmetric. However, under isotropic case, this theory can be identical to modified couple stress theory proposed by Yang et al. (Int J Solids Struct 39:2731–2743, 2002). The differences and relations of standard, modified and new modified couple stress theories are given herein. A detailed variational formulation is provided for this theory by using the principle of minimum total potential energy. Based on the new modified couple stress theory, composite laminated Kirchhoff plate models are developed in which new anisotropic constitutive relationships are defined. The First model contains two material length scale parameters, one related to fiber and the other related to matrix. The curvature tensor in this model is asymmetric; however, the couple stress moment tensor is symmetric. Under isotropic case, this theory can be identical to the modified couple stress theory proposed by Yang et al. (Int J Solids Struct 39:2731–2743, 2002). The present model can be viewed as a simplified couple stress theory in engineering mechanics. Moreover, a more simplified model of couple stress theory including only one material length scale parameter for modeling the cross-ply laminated Kirchhoff plate is suggested. Numerical results show that the proposed laminated Kirchhoff plate model can capture the scale effects of microstructures.     

Subcritical and fatigue crack growth in anti-plane strain state

Assuming elastic-plastic material behavior the slow growth of Mode III crack under both monotonic and pulsating loadings is considered. Rice's idea of universal R-curve is employed while the mathematical analysis is based on the one-dimensional plasticity model suggested by Kostrov and Nikitin. Motion of a quasi-static Mode III crack is studied and the stable/unstable transition points are found through application of the final stretch failure condition proposed in 1972 by Wnuk. A logarithmic formula for fatigue crack extension rate is derived. Results are compared to other well-known solutions.     

Crack tip asymptotic character of anti-plane stress and strain rate for linear fractional constitutive relations

Linear-fractional strain rate and stress relations are used to simulate materials undergoing steady state creep. The crack tip asymptotic character of the stress and strain rate field is obtained in exact and approximate form. In the limit as the radial distance emanating from the crack tip approaches zero, the stress field corresponds to that for an ideal plastic material while the exact and approximate solutions tend to coincide. Discussed is the nonhomogeneous singular character of the strain rate field that possess different orders of singularities in a circular region around the crack tip.     

Modified couple stress theory for three-dimensional elasticity in curvilinear coordinate system: application to micro torus panels

Meccanica - This research considers size effects in the linear three-dimensional elasticity analysis of micro-tori. The fundamental relations (displacement form) are derived for isotropic toroidal...