As the Editorial Board member of IJCMSE, I enthusiastically welcome the high quality submissions from the community of iMechanica. The objective of the journal is the publication and wide electronic dissemination of innovative and consequential research in all aspects computational materials science and engineering, featuring the most advanced mathematical modeling and numerical methodology developments.
A new article on the phase field approach to brittle fracture combined with the cohesive zone model for interlayer and intralayer crack growth in 3D composites and finite elasticity:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263822317322316
Chiqun Zhang Amit Acharya Saurabh Puri
A generalized disclination (g.disclination) theory [AF15] has been recently introduced that goes beyond treating standard translational and rotational Volterra defects in a continuously distributed defects approach; it is capable of treating the kinematics and dynamics of terminating lines of elastic strain and rotation discontinuities. In this work, a numerical method is developed to solve for the stress and distortion fields of g.disclination systems. Problems of small and finite deformation theory are considered. The fields of a single disclination, a single dislocation treated as a disclination dipole, a tilt grain boundary, a misfitting grain boundary with disconnections, a through twin boundary, a terminating twin boundary, a through grain boundary, a star disclination/penta-twin, a disclination loop (with twist and wedge segments), and a plate, a lenticular, and a needle inclusion are approximated. It is demonstrated that while the far-field topological identity of a dislocation of appropriate strength and a disclination-dipole plus a slip dislocation comprising a disconnection are the same, the latter microstructure is energetically favorable. This underscores the complementary importance of all of topology, geometry, and energetics in understanding defect mechanics. It is established that finite element approximations of fields of interfacial and bulk line defects can be achieved in a systematic and routine manner, thus contributing to the study of intricate defect microstructures in the scientific understanding and predictive design of materials. Our work also represents one systematic way of studying the interaction of (g.)disclinations and dislocations as topological defects, a subject of considerable subtlety and conceptual importance [Mer79, AMK17].
