Modeling and simulation of first and second sound in solids

We investigate the propagation of mechanical and thermal waves in solids at cryogenic temperatures. The latter are known as the second sound phenomenon. It occurs, e.g., in dielectric solids and differs greatly from the classical case in which the heat transport proceeds by diffusion. Since Fourier’s law of heat conduction fails for modeling second sound, we apply a non-classical one. During the last two decades, the non-classical thermoelastodynamic theory of Green and Naghdi enjoys steadily growing research activities.     

Geometrically nonlinear continuum thermomechanics with surface energies coupled to diffusion

Surfaces can have a significant influence on the overall response of a continuum body but are often neglected or accounted for in an ad hoc manner. This work is concerned with a nonlinear continuum thermomechanics formulation which accounts for surface structures and includes the effects of diffusion and viscoelasticity. The formulation is presented within a thermodynamically consistent framework and elucidates the nature of the coupling between the various fields, and the surface and the bulk. Conservation principles are used to determine the form of the constitutive relations and the evolution equations. Restrictions on the jump in the temperature and the chemical potential between the surface and the bulk are not a priori assumptions, rather they arise from the reduced dissipation inequality on the surface and are shown to be satisfiable without imposing the standard assumptions of thermal and chemical slavery. The nature of the constitutive relations is made clear via an example wherein the form of the Helmholtz energy is explicitly given.     

Non-linear deformation properties of materials with stochastically distributed anisotropic inclusions

In the present contribution, the problem of non-linear deformation of materials with stochastically distributed anisotropic inclusions is considered on the basis of the methods of mechanics of stochastically non-homogeneous media. The homogenization model of materials of stochastic structure with physically non-linear components is developed for the case of a matrix which is strengthened by unidirectional ellipsoidal inclusions. It is assumed that the matrix is isotropic, deforms non-linearly; inclusions are linear-elastic and have transversally-isotropic symmetry of physical and mechanical properties. Stochastic differential equations of physically non-linear elasticity theory form the underlying equations. Transformation of these equations into integral equations by using the Green's function and application of the method of conditional moments allow us to reduce the problem to a system of non-linear algebraic equations. This system of non-linear algebraic equations is solved by the Newton-Raphson method. On the analytical as well as the numerical basis, the algorithm for determination of the non-linear effective characteristics of such a material is introduced. The non-linear behavior of such a material is caused by the non-linear matrix deformations. On the basis of the numerical solution, the dependences of homogenized Poisson's coefficients on macro-strains and the non-linear stress-strain diagrams for a material with randomly distributed unidirectional ellipsoidal pores are predicted and discussed for different volume fractions of pores. (© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Modeling of polycrystals with gradient crystal plasticity: A comparison of strategies

This paper treats the computational modeling of size dependence in microstructure models of metals. Different gradient crystal plasticity strategies are analyzed and compared. For the numerical implementation, a dual-mixed finite element formulation which is suitable for parallelization is suggested. The paper ends with a representative numerical example for polycrystals.     

Families of meromorphic functions avoiding continuous functions

Leth ₁,h ₂ andh ₃ be continuous functions from the unit disk D into the Riemann sphereC such thath _i(z) ≠ h_j(z) (i ≠ j) for eachz∈D. We prove that the setF of all functionsf meromorphic on D such thatf(z)≠h _j (z) for allz ∈ D andj=1,2,3 is a normal family. The result and the method of the proof extend to quasimeromorphic functions in higher dimensions as well. The second author was supported by a Heisenberg fellowship of the DFG. The fourth author was partially supported by the Marsden Fund, New Zealand. This research was completed while the authors were attending a conference at Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach in Germany. The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to the Institute for providing a stimulating atmosphere and for its kind hospitality.