• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.525-542
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• 2014

The state-based peridynamics is considered a nonlocal method in which the equations of motion utilize integral form as opposed to the partial differential equations in the classical continuum mechanics. As a result, the enforcement of boundary conditions in solid mechanics analyses cannot follow the standard way as in a classical continuum theory. In this paper, a new approach for the boundary condition enforcement in the state-based peridynamic formulation is presented. The new method is first formulated based on a convex kernel approximation to restore the Kronecker-delta property on the boundary in 1-D case. The convex kernel approximation is further localized near the boundary to meet the condition that recovers the correct boundary particle forces. The new formulation is extended to the two-dimensional problem and is shown to reserve the conservation of linear momentum and angular momentum. Three numerical benchmarks are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed approach.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.143-156
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• 2008

Elliptical tubes may buckle in an elastic local buckling failure mode under uniform compression. Previous analyses of the local buckling of these members have assumed that the cross-section is hollow, but it is well-known that the local buckling capacity of thin-walled closed sections may be increased by filling them with a rigid medium such as concrete. In many applications, the medium many not necessarily be rigid, and the infill can be considered to be an elastic material which interacts with the buckling of the elliptical tube that surrounds it. This paper uses an energy-based technique to model the buckling of a thin-walled elliptical tube containing an elastic infill, which elucidates the physics of the buckling phenomenon from an engineering mechanics basis, in deference to a less generic finite element approach to the buckling problem. It makes use of the observation that the local buckling in an elliptical tube is localised with respect to the contour of the ellipse in its cross-section, with the localisation being at the region of lowest curvature. The formulation in the paper is algebraic and it leads to solutions that can be determined by implementing simple numerical solution techniques. A further extension of this formulation to a stiffness approach with multiple degrees of buckling freedom is described, and it is shown that using the simple one degree of freedom representation is sufficiently accurate for determining the elastic local buckling coefficient.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.223-233
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• 2009

This paper presents a new nonlocal stress variational principle approach for the transverse free vibration of an Euler-Bernoulli cantilever nanobeam with an initial axial tension at its free end. The effects of a nanoscale at molecular level unavailable in classical mechanics are investigated and discussed. A sixth-order partial differential governing equation for transverse free vibration is derived via variational principle with nonlocal elastic stress field theory. Analytical solutions for natural frequencies and transverse vibration modes are determined by applying a numerical analysis. Examples conclude that nonlocal stress effect tends to significantly increase stiffness and natural frequencies of a nanobeam. The relationship between natural frequency and nanoscale is also presented and its significance on stiffness enhancement with respect to the classical elasticity theory is discussed in detail. The effect of an initial axial tension, which also tends to enhance the nanobeam stiffness, is also concluded. The model and approach show potential extension to studies in carbon nanotube and the new result is useful for future comparison.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.137-156
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• 2013

In this paper, a meshfree shell adaptive procedure is developed for the applications in the sheet metal forming simulation. The meshfree shell formulation is based on the first-order shear deformable shell theory and utilizes the degenerated continuum and updated Lagrangian approach for the nonlinear analysis. For the sheet metal forming simulation, an h-type adaptivity based on the meshfree background cells is considered and a geometric error indicator is adopted. The enriched nodes in adaptivity are added to the centroids of the adaptive cells and their shape functions are computed using a first-order generalized meshfree (GMF) convex approximation. The GMF convex approximation provides a smooth and non-negative shape function that vanishes at the boundary, thus the enriched nodes have no influence outside the adapted cells and only the shape functions within the adaptive cells need to be re-computed. Based on this concept, a multi-level refinement procedure is developed which does not require the constraint equations to enforce the compatibility. With this approach the adaptive solution maintains the order of meshfree approximation with least computational cost. Two numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method in the adaptive shell analysis.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-25
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• 2014

In this work, we present the theoretical formulation, operator split solution procedure and partitioned software development for the coupled thermomechanical systems. We consider the general case with nonlinear evolution for each sub-system (either mechanical or thermal) with dedicated time integration scheme for each sub-system. We provide the condition that guarantees the stability of such an operator split solution procedure for fully nonlinear evolution of coupled thermomechanical system. We show that the proposed solution procedure can accommodate different evolution time-scale for different sub-systems, and allow for different time steps for the corresponding integration scheme. We also show that such an approach is perfectly suitable for parallel computations. Several numerical simulations are presented in order to illustrate very satisfying performance of the proposed solution procedure and confirm the theoretical speed-up of parallel computations, which follow from the adequate choice of the time step for each sub-problem. This work confirms that one can make the most appropriate selection of the time step with respect to the characteristic time-scale, carry out the separate computations for each sub-system, and then enforce the coupling to preserve the stability of the operator split computations. The software development strategy of direct linking the (existing) codes for each sub-system via Component Template Library (CTL) is shown to be perfectly suitable for the proposed approach.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.395-409
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• 2013

Molecular dynamics (MD) systems are highly nonlinear and nonlocal, and the conventional model order reduction methods are ineffective for MD systems. The RBF-POD method (Lee and Chen, 2013) employed a radial basis function (RBF) approximated potential energies and inter-atomic forces of MD systems under the framework of the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method for the reduced-order modeling of MD systems. In this work, we focus on the numerical procedures of the RBF-POD method and demonstrate how to apply this approach to the modeling of ds-DNA molecules under stretching and bending conditions.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.303-315
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• 2008

In this paper, thermodynamical properties of crystalline silicon under strain are calculated using classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on the Tersoff interatomic potential. The Helmholtz free energy of the silicon crystal under strain is calculated by using the ensemble method developed by Frenkel and Ladd (1984). To account for quantum corrections under strain in the classical MD simulations, we propose an approach where the quantum corrections to the internal energy and the Helmholtz free energy are obtained by using the corresponding energy deviation between the classical and quantum harmonic oscillators. We calculate the variation of thermodynamic properties with temperature and strain and compare them with results obtained by using the quasi-harmonic model in the reciprocal space.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.157-175
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• 2008

A brief review of the research works on ground vibrations caused by trains moving in underground tunnels is first given. Then, the finite/infinite element approach for simulating the soil-tunnel interaction system with semi-infinite domain is summarized. The tunnel is assumed to be embedded in a homogeneous half-space or stratified soil medium. The train moving underground is modeled as an infinite harmonic line load. Factors considered in the parametric studies include the soil stratum depth, damping ratio and shear modulus of the soil with or without tunnel, and the thickness of the tunnel lining. As far as ground vibration is concerned, the existence of a concrete tunnel may somewhat compensate for the loss due to excavation of the tunnel. For a soil stratum resting on a bedrock, the resonance peak and frequency of the ground vibrations caused by the underground load can be rather accurately predicted by ignoring the existence of the tunnel. Other important findings drawn from the parametric studies are given in the conclusion.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1080-1085
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• 2003

The flow of electrical current through a microscopic actual contact spot between two conductors is influenced by the flow through adjacent contact spots. A smoothed version of this interaction effect is developed and used to predict the contact resistance when the statistical size and spatial distribution of contact spots is known. To illustrate the use of the method, an idealized fractal rough surface is defined using the random midpoint displacement algorithm and the size distribution of contact spots is assumed to be given by the intersection of this surface with a constant height plane. With these assumptions, it is shown that including finer scale detail in the fractal surface, equivalent to reducing the sampling length in the measurement of the surface, causes the predicted resistance to approach the perfect contact limit.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.39-54
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• 2010

In this paper, a simple approach is presented for studying the dynamic response of multi-span steel bridges supported by pylons of different heights, subjected to earthquake motions acting along the axis of the bridge with spatial variations. The analysis is carried out using the modal analysis technique, while the solution of the integral-differential equations derived is obtained using the successive approximations technique. It was found that the height of piers and the quality of the foundation soil can affect significantly the dynamical behavior of the bridges studied. Illustrative examples are presented to highlight the points of concern and useful conclusions are gathered.