On governing equations for a nanoplate derived from the 3D gradient theory of elasticity

The paper is concerned with the asymptotically consistent theory of nanoscale plates capturing the spatial nonlocal effects. The three-dimensional (3D) elasticity equations for a thin plate are used as the governing equations. In the general case, the plate is acted upon by dynamic body forces varying in the thickness direction, and by variable surface forces. The thickness of the plate is assumed to be greater than the characteristic micro/nanoscale measure and much smaller than the in-plane characteristic dimension (e.g., the wave or deformation length). The 3D constitutive equations of gradient elasticity are used to link the fields of nonlocal stresses and strains. Using the asymptotic approach, a sequence of relations for stresses and displacements in the form of polynomials in the transverse coordinate with coefficients depending on time and in-plane coordinates was obtained. The asymptotically consistent 2D differential equation governing vibration (or static deformation) of a plate accounting for both transverse shears and the spatial nonlocal contribution of the stress and strain fields was derived. It was revealed that capturing nonlocal effects in all directions leads to an increase in the correction factor compared with the well-known 2D theories based on kinematic hypotheses and the Eringen-type gradient constitutive equations. The effect of the internal length scales parameters on free low-frequency vibrations and displacements of a plate is discoursed.

Time-History Analysis of Composite Materials with Rectangular Microstructure under Shear Actions

It has been demonstrated that materials with microstructure, such as particle composites, show a peculiar mechanical behavior when discontinuities and heterogeneities are present. The use of non-local theories to solve this challenge, while preserving memory of the microstructure, particularly of internal length, is a challenging option. In the present work, composite materials made of rectangular rigid blocks and elastic interfaces are studied using a Cosserat formulation. Such materials are subjected to dynamic shear loads. For anisotropic media, the relative rotation between the local rigid rotation and the microrotation, which corresponds to the skewsymmetric part of strain, is crucial. The benefits of micropolar modeling are demonstrated, particularly for two orthotropic textures of different sizes.

Mechanism of Splitting Failure for High Sidewall Cavern of Hydropower Station Based on Complex Function and Strain Gradient

With the rapid development of society, the number of hydropower projects has increased. During the construction of these projects, due to excavation-induced unloading, the high sidewalls of the hydropower station are often subject to splitting failure, which produces many adverse effects on the construction of the cavern. In order to reveal the formation mechanism of splitting failure of hydropower stations, based on the strain gradient theory and elasto-plastic damage theory, we proposed an elasto-plastic damage softening model. Using the ODE45 program in MATLAB, we solved the numerical solution of displacement and stress of circular cavern based on our proposed elastoplastic damage model. Then, we apply the complex function method and use the Schwarz–Christoffel integral formula to obtain the mapping function from the outer domain of the high sidewall cavern to the outer domain of the unit circle. Finally, the elastic-plastic region and displacement distribution of the high sidewall cavern are obtained by mapping the obtained elastic-plastic solution of the circular cavern under the axisymmetric condition. In future research, it is necessary to further study the corresponding relationship between the internal length parameter of the material and its internal microstructure in order to accurately determine the internal length parameter.

Microstructural dimension involved in the damage of concrete-like materials: An examination by the lattice element method

With the lattice element method, it is required to introduce a length via, for example, a non-local approach in order to satisfy the objectivity of the mechanical response. In spite of this, the mesoscale structuring of inclusions within a matrix conveys the natural origin of the internal length for a fixed mesh. In other words, internal length is not explicitly provided to the model, but rather governed by the characteristics of the meso-structure itself. This study examines the influence that the meso-structure of quasi-brittle materials, like concretes, have on the width of the fracture process zone and thus the fracture energy. The size of the fracture process zone is assumed to correlate with a microstructural dimension of the quasi-brittle material. If a weakness is introduced by a notch, the involvement of the ligament size (a structural parameter) is also investigated. These analyses provide recommendations and warnings that could be beneficial when extracting, from material meso-structures, a required internal length for nonlocal damage models. Among the observations made, the study suggests that the property that best characterise a meso-structure length would be the spacing between inclusions rather than the size of the inclusions themselves. It is also shown that microstructural dimension and the width of the fracture process zone have comparable order of magnitude, and they trend similarly with respect to microstructural sizes such as the inclusion interdistances.

A micromechanics-based constitutive model for nanocrystalline shape memory alloys incorporating grain size effects

A micromechanics-based model is developed to capture the grain-size dependent superelasticity of nanocrystalline shape memory alloys (SMAs). Grain-size effects are incorporated in the proposed model through definition of dissipative length scale and energetic length scale parameters. In this paper, nanocrystalline SMAs are considered as two-phase composites consisting of the grain-core phase and the grain-boundary phase. Based on the Gibbs free energy including the spatial gradient of the martensite volume fraction, a new transformation function determining the evolution law for transformation strain is derived. Using micromechanical averaging techniques, the grain-size-dependent superelastic behavior of nanocrystalline SMAs can be described. The internal length scales are calibrated using experimental results from published literature. In addition, model validation is performed by comparing the model predictions with the corresponding experimental data on nanostructured NiTi polycrystalline SMA. Finally, effects of the internal length scales on the critical stresses for forward and reverse transformations, the hysteresis loop area (transformation dissipation energy), and the strain hardening are investigated.

Morphometrical Study of the European Shorthair Cat Skull Using Computed Tomography

This study aimed to perform a morphometric analysis of the skull of the European shorthair cat by using computed tomographic images. Thirty-seven computed tomography (CT) studies of healthy cats’ heads were used for linear measurements and index calculations of the skull and cranium. The following values were determined: skull length = 8.94 ± 0.45 cm, cranial length = 8.21 ± 0.42 cm, nasal length = 0.73 ± 0.17 cm, cranial width = 4.28 ± 0.26 cm, cranial index = 52.18 ± 3.75%, internal height of cranium = 2.88 ± 0.29 cm, external height of cranium = 3.35 ± 0.12 cm, internal length of the cranium = 5.53 ± 0.28 cm, external length of the cranium = 6.32 ± 0.28 cm, internal cranium index = 45.62 ± 4.77%, external cranium index = 53.06 ± 2.07%, internal cranium and skull index = 61.93 ± 2.38%, external cranium and skull index = 70.70 ± 1.72%, width of the foramen magnum = 1.34 ± 0.07 cm, height of the foramen magnum = 1.01 ± 0.09 cm, and foramen magnum index = 75.37 ± 5.76%. It was also found that the population was homogeneous, with the exception of nasal length (NL), and that there was a sexual dimorphism present, with males exhibiting higher dimensions. This work contributed to characterizing the morphometry of the cranium and skull of the domestic cat, a knowledge of utmost importance for the diagnosis and treatment of conditions affecting this complex anatomical region.

A regularized continuum model for fault zones with rate and state friction

<p>Accurate representation of fault zones is important in many applications in Earth sciences, including natural and induced seismicity. The framework developed here can efficiently model fault zone localization, evolution, and spontaneous fully dynamic earthquake sequences in a continuum plasticity framework. The geometrical features of the faults are incorporated into a regularized continuum framework, while the response of the fault zone is governed by a rate and state-dependent friction. Although a continuum plasticity model is advantageous to discrete approaches in representing evolving, unknown, or arbitrarily positioned faults, it is known that either non-associated plasticity or strain-softening can lead to mesh sensitivity of the numerical results in absence of an internal length scale. A common way to regularize the numerical model and introduce an internal length scale is by the adoption of a Kelvin-type visco-plasticity element. The visco-plastic rheological behavior for the bulk material is implemented along with a return-mapping algorithm for accurate stress and strain evolution. High slip rates (in the order of 1 m/s) are captured through numerical examples of a predefined strike-slip fault zone, where a detailed comparison with a reference discrete fault model is presented. Additionally, the regularization effect of the Kelvin viscosity parameter is studied on the fault slip velocity for a growing fault zone due to an initial material imperfection.  The model is consistently linearized leading to quadratic convergence of the Newton solver. Although the proposed framework is a step towards the modeling of earthquake sequences for induced seismicity applications, the numerical model is general and can be applied to all tectonic settings including subduction zones.</p><div> <div> <div> </div> <div> <div> <div> </div> <div> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

Gradient Damage Analysis of a Cylinder Under Torsion: Bifurcation and Size Effects

In this work, an elastic-damage evolution analysis is carried out for a cylinder under torsion made of a material obeying a gradient damage model with softening. Both semi-analytical and asymptotic approaches are developed to analyze the elastic, axisymmetric and bifurcation stages. We show the existence of a fundamental branch where the damage field is asymmetric and localized within a finite thickness from the boundary. By minimizing a generalized Rayleigh quotient, the bifurcation time and modes are obtained as a function of the length scale $\epsilon =\ell /R$ ϵ = ℓ / R involving a material internal length and the cylinder radius. We will then focus on these size effects by assuming that $\epsilon $ ϵ is a small parameter in an asymptotic setting. After justification, specific spatial and temporal rescaled variables are introduced for the boundary layer problem. It is shown that the axisymmetric damage evolution and the bifurcation are governed by two universal functions independent of the length scale. The simulation results obtained by the semi-analytical approach are formally justified by the asymptotic methods.

On Hydromechanical Interaction during Propagation of Localized Damage in Rocks

This paper provides a mathematical description of hydromechanical coupling associated with propagation of localized damage. The framework incorporates an embedded discontinuity approach and addresses the assessment of both hydraulic and mechanical properties in the region intercepted by a fracture. Within this approach, an internal length scale parameter is explicitly employed in the definition of equivalent permeability as well as the tangential stiffness operators. The effect of the progressive evolution of damage on the hydro-mechanical coupling is examined and an evolution law is derived governing the variation of equivalent permeability with the continuing deformation. The framework is verified by a numerical study involving 3D simulation of an axial splitting test carried out on a saturated sample under displacement and fluid pressure-controlled conditions. The finite element analysis incorporates the Polynomial-Pressure-Projection (PPP) stabilization technique and a fully implicit time integration scheme.