Uniqueness for plane crack problems in dipolar gradient elasticity and in couple-stress elasticity

The present work deals with the uniqueness theorem for plane crack problems in solids characterized by dipolar gradient elasticity. The theory of gradient elasticity derives from considerations of microstructure in elastic continua [Mindlin, R.D., 1964. Micro-structure in linear elasticity. Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 16, 51–78] and is appropriate to model materials with periodic structure. According to this theory, the strain-energy density assumes the form of a positive-definite function of the strain (as in classical elasticity) and the second gradient of the displacement (additional term). Specific cases of the general theory employed here are the well-known theory of couple-stress elasticity and the recently popularized theory of strain-gradient elasticity. These cases are also treated in the present study. We consider an anisotropic material response of the cracked plane body, within the linear version of gradient elasticity, and conditions of plane-strain or anti-plane strain. It is emphasized that, for crack problems in general, a uniqueness theorem more extended than the standard Kirchhoff theorem is needed because of the singular behavior of the solutions at the crack tips. Such a theorem will necessarily impose certain restrictions on the behavior of the fields in the vicinity of crack tips. In standard elasticity, a theorem was indeed established by Knowles and Pucik [Knowles, J.K., Pucik, T.A., 1973. Uniqueness for plane crack problems in linear elastostatics. J. Elast. 3, 155–160], who showed that the necessary conditions for solution uniqueness are a bounded displacement field and a bounded body-force field. In our study, we show that the additional (to the two previous conditions) requirement of a bounded displacement-gradient field in the vicinity of the crack tips guarantees uniqueness within the general form of the theory of dipolar gradient elasticity. In the specific cases of couple-stress elasticity and pure strain-gradient elasticity, the additional requirement is less stringent. This only involves a bounded rotation field for the first case and a bounded strain field for the second case.     

New integral equation for plane elasticity crack problems

In the usual formulation of singular equation approach for crack problems in plane elasticity [1,2], if one changes the right-hand term of the integral equation from tractions to resultant forces, a new integral equation can be obtained and is presented in this paper. The newly obtained integral equation has a log singular kernel. Interpolation equation for the dislocation functions (the undetermined functions in the integral equations) is proposed. Numerical examination is used to demonstrate the efficiency of the present technique, and a number of numerical examples are given.     

Wedge and twist disclinations in second strain gradient elasticity

The aim of this paper is to study disclinations in the framework of a second strain gradient elasticity theory. This second strain gradient elasticity has been proposed based on the first and second gradients of the strain tensor by Lazar et al. [Lazar, M., Maugin, G.A., Aifantis, E.C., 2006. Dislocations in second strain gradient elasticity. Int. J. Solids Struct. 43, 1787–1817]. Such a theory is an extension of the first strain gradient elasticity [Lazar, M., Maugin, G.A., 2005. Nonsingular stress and strain fields of dislocations and disclinations in first strain gradient elasticity. Int. J. Eng. Sci. 43, 1157–1184] with triple stress. By means of the stress function method, the exact analytical solutions for stress and strain fields of straight disclinations in an infinitely extended linear isotropic medium have been found. An important result is that the force stress, double stress and triple stress produced by wedge and twist disclinations are nonsingular. Meanwhile, the corresponding elastic strain and its gradients are also nonsingular. Analytical results indicate that the second strain gradient theory has the capacity of eliminating all unphysical singularities of physical fields.     

An integral equation approach to self-similar plane-elastodynamic crack problems

The elastodynamic problem of an expanding crack under homogeneous polynomialform loading was reduced to the solution of a Cauchy singular integral equation. In this manner the solution of the original problem can be obtained by using well-known numerical treatments available for Cauchy SIEs. The procedure was accomplished by means of the Busemann-Chaplygin similarity technique and complex variable methods. The analysis has been restricted to the subsonic case.     

Continuum theory of dislocations and disclinations in nonlinearly elastic micropolar media

A nonlinear theory of continuously distributed dislocation and disclination type defects in elastic media with intrinsic rotational degrees of freedom and couple stresses is proposed. The mediumstrains are assumed to be finite. The solving equations of the continuum theory of defects are obtained by passing to the limit from a discrete set of isolated dislocations and disclinations to their continuous distribution. The notions of dislocation and disclination densities in a micropolar body under large deformations are introduced. Incompatibility equations are obtained and a boundaryvalue problem of equilibriumis posed for an elastic micropolar body with a given density of distributed defects. A nonlinear problem of determining the intrinsic stresses in a hollow circular cylinder due to a given distribution of disclinations is solved.     

An adaptive procedure for defect identification problems in elasticity

In the context of inverse problems in mechanics, it is well known that the most typical situation is that neither the interior nor all the boundary is available to obtain data to detect the presence of inclusions or defects. We propose here an adaptive method that uses loads and measures of displacements only on part of the surface of the body, to detect defects in the interior of an elastic body. The method is based on Small Amplitude Homogenization, that is, we work under the assumption that the contrast on the values of the Lamé elastic coefficients between the defect and the matrix is not very large. The idea is that given the data for one loading state and one location of the displacement sensors, we use an optimization method to obtain a guess for the location of the inclusion and then, using this guess, we adapt the position of the sensors and the loading zone, hoping to refine the current guess.Numerical results show that the method is quite efficient in some cases, using in those cases no more than three loading positions and three different positions of the sensors.     

Plane-strain crack problems in microstructured solids governed by dipolar gradient elasticity

The present study aims at determining the elastic stress and displacement fields around the tips of a finite-length crack in a microstructured solid under remotely applied plane-strain loading (mode I and II cases). The material microstructure is modeled through the Toupin-Mindlin generalized continuum theory of dipolar gradient elasticity. According to this theory, the strain-energy density assumes the form of a positive-definite function of the strain tensor (as in classical elasticity) and the gradient of the strain tensor (additional term). A simple but yet rigorous version of the theory is employed here by considering an isotropic linear expression of the elastic strain-energy density that involves only three material constants (the two Lamé constants and the so-called gradient coefficient). First, a near-tip asymptotic solution is obtained by the Knein-Williams technique. Then, we attack the complete boundary value problem in an effort to obtain a full-field solution. Hypersingular integral equations with a cubic singularity are formulated with the aid of the Fourier transform. These equations are solved by analytical considerations on Hadamard finite-part integrals and a numerical treatment. The results show significant departure from the predictions of standard fracture mechanics. In view of these results, it seems that the classical theory of elasticity is inadequate to analyze crack problems in microstructured materials. Indeed, the present results indicate that the stress distribution ahead of the crack tip exhibits a local maximum that is bounded. Therefore, this maximum value may serve as a measure of the critical stress level at which further advancement of the crack may occur. Also, in the vicinity of the crack tip, the crack-face displacement closes more smoothly as compared to the standard result and the strain field is bounded. Finally, the J-integral (energy release rate) in gradient elasticity was evaluated. A decrease of its value is noticed in comparison with the classical theory. This shows that the gradient theory predicts a strengthening effect since a reduction of crack driving force takes place as the material microstructure becomes more pronounced.     

Relation between the stress and couple-stress tensors in the microcontinuum theory of elasticity

The stress tensor is expressed in terms of an arbitrary symmetric tensor field of second rank and the couple-stress tensor. The stress and couple-stress tensors are represented by arbitrary tensor fields satisfying the homogeneous equilibrium equations. These tensors are also given in the form of the expressions satisfying the inhomogeneous equilibrium equations used in the microcontinuum theory of elasticity. The stress tensor functions are considered.     

Dislocations and disclinations: continuously distributed defects in elasto-plastic crystalline materials

The paper deals with elasto-plastic models for crystalline materials with defects, dislocations coupled with disclinations. The behaviour of the material is described with respect to an anholonomic configuration, endowed with a non-Riemannian geometric structure. The geometry of the material structure is generated by the plastic distortion, which is an incompatible second-order tensor, and by the so-called plastic connection which is metric compatible, with respect to the metric tensor associated with the plastic distortion. The free energy function is dependent on the second-order elastic deformation and on the state of defects. The tensorial measure of the defects is considered to be the Cartan torsion of the plastic connection and the disclination tensor. When we restrict to small elastic and plastic distortions, the measures of the incompatibility as well as the dislocation densities reduced to the classical ones in the linear elasticity. The constitutive equations for macroforces and the evolution equations for the plastic distortion and disclination tensor are provided to be compatible with the free energy imbalance principle.     

Nonlocal elasticity: an approach based on fractional calculus

Fractional calculus is the mathematical subject dealing with integrals and derivatives of non-integer order. Although its age approaches that of classical calculus, its applications in mechanics are relatively recent and mainly related to fractional damping. Investigations using fractional spatial derivatives are even newer. In the present paper spatial fractional calculus is exploited to investigate a material whose nonlocal stress is defined as the fractional integral of the strain field. The developed fractional nonlocal elastic model is compared with standard integral nonlocal elasticity, which dates back to Eringen’s works. Analogies and differences are highlighted. The long tails of the power law kernel of fractional integrals make the mechanical behaviour of fractional nonlocal elastic materials peculiar. Peculiar are also the power law size effects yielded by the anomalous physical dimension of fractional operators. Furthermore we prove that the fractional nonlocal elastic medium can be seen as the continuum limit of a lattice model whose points are connected by three levels of springs with stiffness decaying with the power law of the distance between the connected points. Interestingly, interactions between bulk and surface material points are taken distinctly into account by the fractional model. Finally, the fractional differential equation in terms of the displacement function along with the proper static and kinematic boundary conditions are derived and solved implementing a suitable numerical algorithm. Applications to some example problems conclude the paper.     

An improved exponential transformation for nearly singular boundary element integrals in elasticity problems

This paper presents an improved exponential transformation for nearly singular boundary element integrals in elasticity problems. The new transformation is less sensitive to the position of the projection point compared with the original transformation. In our work, the conventional distance function is modified into a new form in the polar coordinate system. Based on the refined distance function, an improved exponential transformation is proposed in the polar coordinate system. Moreover, to perform integrations on irregular elements, an adaptive integration scheme considering both the element shape and the projection point associated with the improved transformation is proposed. Furthermore, when the projection point is located outside the integration element, another nearest point is introduced to subdivide the integration elements into triangular or quadrilateral patches of fine shapes. Numerical examples are presented to verify the proposed method. Results demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of our method.     

An exact solution of crack problems in piezoelectric materials

IntroductionInrecentyearscrackproblemsinpiezoelectricmaterialhavereceivedmuchattention.Manytheoreticalanalyseshavebeengivenby[1～16].Itshouldbe,however,notedthatalltheaboveanalysesarebasedonaso-calledimpermeablecrackassumphon,i.e.thecrackfacesareassumedtobeimpermeabletoelectricfield,sotheelectricdisplacementvanishesinsidethecrack.Usingthisassumption,onewillobtainthefollowingresultS[2'3'5,6'9'16]=whentheelectricloadsaresolelyaPPliedatinLfinity,theelectricdisplacementissquare-rootsingularatthe…     

Uniquencess for the penny-shaped crack equilibrium problem in linear elasticity

Two uniqueness theorems for the equilibrium problem of an elastic body containing a circular crack (penny-shaped crack) are proved.

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Sommario Si dimostrano due teoremi di unicità per il problema al contorno associato all'equilibrio di un corpo elastico tridimensionale contenente una fessura circolare.

     

Extended meshless method based on partition of unity for solving multiple crack problems

An extended meshless method based on partition of unity was used in this study to simulate multiple cracks. The cracks are implicitly denoted by a jump in the displacement field function, which has nodes that have domains of influence completely segmented by cracks. Nodes whose domains of influence are partially segmented by cracks are extended by the crack tip singularity function. The influence domain of a node is independent of cracks so that the sparsity of the system equations should not be affected by cracks and the computing time should not increase with the effect of the cracks. Additionally, r ^?1/2 singularity can be accurately reproduced at the crack tip. Compared with the modified intrinsic enriched meshless method, our method has a higher computational efficiency and precision. Several numerical examples show that the extended meshless method based on partition of unity is feasible and effective in simulating multiple cracks.