A homogenisation strategy for micromorphic continua based on particle mechanics

Materials with a granular microstructure frequently fail in narrow zones due to strain localisation. Examplarily, one may look at the shear-zone development in dry sand during bi- and triaxial loading, where grains in the shear-zone exhibit large displacements and rotations. Furthermore, localisation is also observed in materials, where the microstructure consists of grains and a binding material, such as for example metal-casting moulds. Here, sand grains are bound together via a polyurethan-based material and macroscopic material failure originates from the deformation and breakage of the binder material. Within a continuum-based modelling approach, these microstructural effects can be accounted for by the consideration of an additional microcontinuum at each material point of the macroscopic body. These extended continuum theories, such as the micromorphic continua and its micropolar and microstrain sub-formulations, assume a characteristic microcontinuum deformation on a lower scale and have been successfully applied in the field of granular media. Exemplarily, in the framework of a micropolar continua, it is possible to contact forces to stresses and couple stresses via an appropriate homogenisation technique. This method includes the introduction of a Representative Elementary Volume (REV) on the mesoscale situated between the particle and the continuum scale. In this contribution, a homogenisation strategy based on a particle-centre-based REV definition is presented that is generally valid for micromorphic and micropolar continua. Therefore, a grain-binder microstructure is investigated, where particle rotations contribute to the micropolar part, while binder deformations yield the additional macromorphic character. Numerical examples are given, where results from discrete-element simulations are locally averaged and show the individual activation of the microcontinuum characteristics in the localised zones. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Partitioned treatment of surface-coupled problems with application to the fluid-porous-media interaction

Employing a decoupled solution strategy for the numerical treatment of the set of governing equations describing a surface-coupled phenomenon is a common practice. In this regard, many partitioned solution algorithms have been developed, which usually either belong to the family of Schur-complement methods or to the group of staggered integration schemes. To select a decoupled solution strategy over another is, however, a case-dependent process that should be done with special care. In particular, the performances of the algorithms from the viewpoints of stability and accuracy of the results on the one hand, and the solution speed on the other hand should be investigated. In this contribution, two strategies for a partitioned treatment of the surface-coupled problem of fluid-porous-media interaction (FPMI) are considered. These are one parallel solution algorithm, which is based on the method of localised Lagrange multipliers (LLM), and one sequential solution method, which follows the block-Gauss-Seidel (BGS) integration strategy. In order to investigate the performances of the proposed schemes, an exemplary initial-boundary-value problem is considered and the numerical results obtained by employing the solution algorithms are compared. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Multi-component modelling and simulation of metastases proliferation within brain tissue

Originated from a lung tumour, cancer cells can spread via the blood-vessel system, travel to the cerebrum and may pass the blood-brain barrier. The extravasation is followed by migration, and the formation of micrometastases. Further proliferation causes interveined metastases. A pressure-driven infusion of a therapeutic solution counteracts the disturbance by the metastases within the brain. These processes are described with a continuum-mechanical model based on the Theory of Porous Media. Numerical applications demonstrate the feasibility of the model and include multicellular-tumour spheroid experiments in the macroscopic simulation of metastases growth and atrophy. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Micro-swimming without flagella: Propulsion by internal structures

Since a first proof-of-concept for an autonomous micro-swimming device appeared in 2005 a strong interest on the subject ensued. The most common configuration consists of a cell driven by an external propeller, bio-inspired by bacteria such as E.coli. It is natural to investigate whether micro-robots powered by internal mechanisms could be competitive. We compute the translational and rotational velocity of a spheroid that produces a helical wave on its surface, as has been suggested for the rod-shaped cyanobacterium Synechococcus. This organisms swims up to ten body lengths per second without external flagella. For the mathematical analysis we employ the tangent plane approximation method, which is adequate for amplitudes, frequencies and wave lengths considered here. We also present a qualitative discussion about the efficiency of a device driven by an internal rotating structure.     

Problems and progress in microswimming

Summary Stokesian swimming is a geometric exercise, a collective game. In Part I, we review Shapere and Wilczek's gauge-theoretical approach for a single organism. We estimate the speeds of organisms moving by propagating small amplitude waves, and we make a conjecture regarding a new inequality for the Stokes' curvature. In Part II, we extend the gauge theory to collective motions. We advocate the influx of nonlinear control theory and subriemannian geometry. Computationally, parallel algorithms are natural, each microorganism representing a separate processor. In the final section, open questions motivated by biology are presented. Dedicated to the memory of Juan C. Simo, a pioneer in the use of geometry to produce better analytical and numerical methods in mechanics This paper was solicited by the editors to be part of a volume dedicated to the memory of Juan C. Simo.     

An inverse algorithm for the identification and the sensitivity analysis of the parameters governing micropolar elasto-plastic granular material

The article concerns the complex determination process of the material parameters governing micropolar granular material with elasto-plastic material properties. Proceeding from a gradient-based method, we split the total set of parameters and the overall identification procedure into two major categories. These are, firstly, the identification of the parameters of a standard non-polar elasto-plastic continuum, and, secondly, the determination of the remaining parameters governing the micropolar part of the constitutive model. While the first set of parameters can be obtained from homogeneous triaxial tests on, e. g., granular, cohesive-frictional materials like sand, the second set can only be determined from inhomogeneous tests, such as biaxial tests including the onset and the development of shear bands. Following this, one can obtain the first part of the identification process from a simple inverse algorithm applied to the elasto-plastic material model of non-polar solids, while the second part requires a fully inverse computation in the sense of a back analysis of the underlying boundary-value problem. In the present article, this procedure is carried out by use of the semi-discrete sensitivity analysis. Finally, the whole model is applied to the data of Hostun sand taken at the universities of Grenoble and Stuttgart. Dedicated to Professor Franz Ziegler on the occasion of his 70th birthday.     

Varieties of simplicial groupoids I: Crossed complexes

It is usual to use algebraic models for homotopy types. Simplicial groupoids provide such a model. Other partial models include the crossed complexes of Brown and Higgins. In this paper, the simplicial groupoids that correspond to crossed complexes are shown to form a variety within the category of all simplicial groupoids and the corresponding verbal subgroupoid is identified.     

Rubber rolling over a sphere

“Rubber” coated bodies rolling over a surface satisfy a no-twist condition in addition to the no slip condition satisfied by “marble” coated bodies [1]. Rubber rolling has an interesting differential geometric appeal because the geodesic curvatures of the curves on the surfaces at corresponding points are equal. The associated distribution in the 5 dimensional configuration space has 2–3–5 growth (these distributions were first studied by Cartan; he showed that the maximal symmetries occurs for rubber rolling of spheres with 3:1 diameters ratio and materialize the exceptional group G ₂). The 2–3–5 nonholonomic geometries are classified in a companion paper [2] via Cartan’s equivalence method [3]. Rubber rolling of a convex body over a sphere defines a generalized Chaplygin system [4–8] with SO(3) symmetry group, total space Q = SO(3) × S ² and base S ², that can be reduced to an almost Hamiltonian system in T*S ² with a non-closed 2-form ω_NH. In this paper we present some basic results on the sphere-sphere problem: a dynamically asymmetric but balanced sphere of radius b (unequal moments of inertia I _j but with center of gravity at the geometric center), rubber rolling over another sphere of radius a. In this example ω_NH is conformally symplectic [9]: the reduced system becomes Hamiltonian after a coordinate dependent change of time. In particular there is an invariant measure, whose density is the determinant of the reduced Legendre transform, to the power p = 1/2(b/a − 1). Using sphero-conical coordinates we verify the result by Borisov and Mamaev [10] that the system is integrable for p = −1/2 (ball over a plane). They have found another integrable case [11] corresponding to p = −3/2 (rolling ball with twice the radius of a fixed internal ball). Strikingly, a different set of sphero-conical coordinates separates the Hamiltonian in this case. No other integrable cases with different I _j are known.