We present singularity-free solution for cracks within polar media in which material points possess both position and orientation. The plane strain problem is addressed in this study for which the generalized continua including micropolar, nonlocal micropolar, and gradient micropolar elasticity theories are employed. For the first time, the variationally consistent boundary conditions are derived for gradient micropolar elasticity. Moreover, having reviewed the solution to line defects including glide edge dislocation and wedge disclination from the literature, the fields of a climb edge dislocation within micropolar, nonlocal micropolar and gradient micropolar elasticity are derived. This completes the collection of line defects needed for an inplane strain analysis. Afterward, as the main contribution, using both types of line defects (i.e., dislocation being displacement discontinuity and disclination being rotational discontinuity), the well-established dislocation-based fracture mechanics is systematically generalized to the dislocation- and disclination-based fracture mechanics of polar media for which we have three translations together with three rotations as degrees of freedom. Due to the application of the line defects, incompatible elasticity is employed throughout the paper. Cracks under three possible loadings including stress and couple stress components are analyzed, and the corresponding line defect densities and stress and couple stress fields are reported. The singular fields are obtained once using the micropolar elasticity, while nonlocal micropolar, and gradient micropolar elasticity theories give rise to singularity-free fracture mechanics.

The exposure of sample to Focused Ion Beam leads to Ga-ion implantation, damage, material amorphisation, and the introduction of sources of residual stress; namely eigenstrain. In this study we employ synchrotron X-ray Reflectivity technique to characterise the amorphous layer generated in a single crystal Silicon sample by exposure to Ga-ion beam. The thickness, density and interface roughness of the amorphous layer were extracted from the analysis of the reflectivity curve. The outcome is compared with the eigenstrain profile evaluated from residual stress analysis by Molecular Dynamics and TEM imaging reported in the literature. (c) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This paper examines the length-scale effect on the nonlinear response of an electrically actuated Carbon Nanotube (CNT) based nano-actuator using a nonlocal strain and velocity gradient (NSVG) theory. The nano-actuator is modeled within the framework of a doubly-clamped Euler–Bernoulli beam which accounts for the nonlinear von-Karman strain and the electric actuating forcing. The NSVG theory includes three length-scale parameters which describe two completely different size-dependent phenomena, namely, the inter-atomic long-range force and the nano-structure deformation mechanisms. Hamilton's principle is employed to obtain the equation of motion of the nonlinear nanobeam in addition to its respective classical and non-classical boundary conditions. The differential quadrature method (DQM) is used to discretize the governing equations. The key aim of this research is to numerically investigate the influence of the nonlocal parameter and the strain and velocity gradient parameters on the nonlinear structural behavior of the carbon nanotube based nanobeam. It is found that these three length-scale parameters can largely impact the performance of the CNT based nano-actuator and qualitatively alter its resultant response. The main goal of this investigation is to understand the highly nonlinear response of these miniature structures to improve their overall performance.

A strain and velocity gradient framework is formulated for centrosymmetric anisotropic Euler-Bernoulli and third-order shear-deformable (TSD) beam models, reducible to Timoshenko beams. The governing equations and boundary conditions are obtained by using variational approach. The strain energy is generalized to include strain gradients and the tensor of anisotropic static length scale parameters. The kinetic energy includes velocity gradients and a tensor of anisotropic length scale parameters and hence the static and kinetic quantities of centrosymmetric anisotropic materials are distinguished in micro- and macroscales. Furthermore, the external work is written in the corresponding general form. Free vibration of simply supported centrosymmetric anisotropic TSD beams is studied by using analytical solution as well as an isogeometric numerical method verified with respect to convergence.

Buckling of centrosymmetric anisotropic beams is studied within strain gradient theory. First, the three dimensional anisotropic gradient elasticity theory is outlined. Then the dimension of the three dimensional theory is reduced, resulting in Timoshenko beam as well as Euler–Bernoulli beam theories. The governing differential equations together with the consistent (classical and non-classical) boundary conditions are derived for centrosymmetric anisotropic beams through a variational approach. By considering von Kármán nonlinear strains, the geometric nonlinearity is taken into account. The obtained nonlinear formulation can be used to study the postbuckling configuration. The analysis of size effect on anisotropic beam structures is missing in the literature so far, while the present model allows one to characterize the size effect on the buckling of the centrosymmetric anisotropic micro- and nano-scale beam structures such as micropillars. As a specific case, the governing buckling equation is obtained for the more practical case of orthotropic beams. Finally, the buckling loads for orthotropic simply supported Timoshenko and Euler–Bernoulli beams as well as a clamped Euler–Bernoulli beam are obtained analytically and the effect of the internal length scale parameters on the buckling load is depicted.

Pyrolysis experiments were conducted on medium density fibreboard (MDF) in inert atmosphere and different ambient pressures, to investigate the char shrinkage and cracking. It is found that the char cracking under uniform heat flux is a typical thermal shock process induced by unbalance shrinkage along the sample thickness during pyrolysis. To predict the number of char fissures, the critical stress criterion and energy conservation theory are used to develop mathematical models under plane constitutive stress state, which reveal that under the same surface degradation the number of char fissures (blisters) strongly relates to the pyrolysis depth at cracking time. Increasing external heat flux decreases the pyrolysis depth and increases the number of char fissures. Both experiments and numerical modelling are used to validate the models. The experimental results show that the horizontal shrinkage is 11% of original length and the micro-structure of char fissures of MDF is less uniform compared to the one of natural wood with a cellular pattern. The surface stresses after cracking are found similarly close to the tensile strength under different heat fluxes, while the surface stresses are very different assuming no crack, which indicates the cracking process reduces the surface stress to lower than the tensile strength. The modelled cracking times are different from the observed cracking time as the fissures are hard to identify at its initial stage and only when they have expanded to certain size the fissures are visually observed. Using the modelled cracking time, the number of char blisters can be well correlated with the pyrolysis depth.

In this paper, we study the longitudinal linear and nonlinear free vibration response of a single walled carbonnanotube (CNT) embedded in an elastic medium subjected to different boundary conditions. This formulation isbased on a large deformation analysis in which the linear and nonlinear von Kármán strains and their gradientare included in the expression of the strain energy and the velocity and its gradient are taken into account in theexpression of the kinetic energy. Therefore, static and kinetic length scales associated with both energies areintroduced to model size effects. The governing motion equation along with the boundary conditions are derivedusing Hamilton's principle. Closed-form solutions for the linear free vibration problem of the embedded CNTrod are first obtained. Then, the nonlinear free vibration response is investigated for various values of lengthscales using the method of multiple scales.

In this paper, the size effect on beam structures with centrosymmetric anisotropy is studied within strain gradient elasticity theory. Applying dimension reduction to the three dimensional anisotropic gradient elasticity, the third-order shear deformable (TSD) beam is analysed. A variational approach is used to determine the equilibrium equations of TSD beam together with consistent (classical and non-classical) boundary conditions. The TSD beam theory which is suitable for deep beam structures can be replaced by (less complicated) Euler-Bernoulli beam model for thin beam structures. The anisotropic Euler-Bernoulli beam model is also formulated within the framework of strain gradient theory. This anisotropic beam theory can be used to study size effects for any types of centrosymmetric anisotropy. To address the more practical cases of composite structures, the formulation is simplified for orthotropic and transversely isotropic materials. Finally, the analytical solutions are provided for bending of simply supported (TSD and Euler-Bernoulli) beams as well as clamped Euler-Bernoulli beams. The effect of the crystal orientation with respect to the beam geometry is investigated in these examples.

In this paper, Reddy’s third-order shear deformable plate theory is employed for the analysis of centrosymmetric anisotropic plate structures within strain gradient elasticity. The general three-dimensional anisotropic gradient theory is reduced to a two-dimensional formulation for the analysis of thick plate structures. The third-order shear deformation theory (TSDT) takes into account quadratic variation of the transverse shear strains of the plate and does not require shear correction factors. In order to investigate the case of small strains but moderate rotations, the von Kármán strains are considered. The TSDT is also simplified to anisotropic Kirchhoff plate theory within gradient elasticity. To study specific material properties in more detail, the (Kirchhoff and TSDT) gradient plate theory of general anisotropy is simplified to the more practical case of orthotropic plates. It is observed that the gradient theory provides the capability to capture the size effects in anisotropic plate structures. As case studies, the bending and buckling behaviors of the simply supported orthotropic (Kirchhoff and TSDT) plates are studied. Variationally consistent boundary conditions are also discussed. Finally, analytical solutions are presented for the bending and buckling of simply supported orthotropic Kirchhoff plates. The effects of internal length scales on deflections and buckling loads are presented.

Abstract This paper is the sequel of a companion Part I paper devoted to dislocation-based antiplane fracture mechanics within nonlocal and gradient elasticity of bi-Helmholtz type. In the present paper, the inplane analysis is carried out to study cracks of Modes I and II. Generalized continua including nonlocal elasticity of bi-Helmholtz type and gradient elasticity of bi-Helmholtz type (second strain gradient elasticity) offer nonsingular frameworks for the discrete dislocations. Consequently, the dislocation-based fracture mechanics within these frameworks is expected to result in a regularized fracture theory. By distributing the (climb and glide) edge dislocations, (Modes I and II) cracks are modeled. Distinctive features are captured for crack solutions within second-grade theories (nonlocal and gradient elasticity of bi-Helmholtz type) comparing with solutions within first-grade theories (nonlocal and gradient elasticity of Helmholtz type) as well as classical elasticity. Other than the total stress tensor, all of the field quantities are regularized within second-grade theories, while first-grade theories give singular double stress and dislocation density and classical elasticity leads to singularity in the stress field and dislocation density. Similar to gradient elasticity of Helmholtz type (first strain gradient elasticity), crack tip plasticity is captured in gradient elasticity of bi-Helmholtz type without any assumption of the cohesive zone. ", keywords = Crack; Inplane; Dislocation; Nonlocal elasticity of bi-Helmholtz type; Gradient elasticity of bi-Helmholtz type; Nonsingular, isbn = 0020-7683, doi=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2016.03.025