Plane stress | EPFL Graph Search

In continuum mechanics, a material is said to be under plane stress if the stress vector is zero across a particular plane. When that situation occurs over an entire element of a structure, as is often the case for thin plates, the stress analysis is considerably simplified, as the stress state can be represented by a tensor of dimension 2 (representable as a 2×2 matrix rather than 3×3). A related notion, plane strain, is often applicable to very thick members. Plane stress typically occurs in thin flat plates that are acted upon only by load forces that are parallel to them. In certain situations, a gently curved thin plate may also be assumed to have plane stress for the purpose of stress analysis. This is the case, for example, of a thin-walled cylinder filled with a fluid under pressure. In such cases, stress components perpendicular to the plate are negligible compared to those parallel to it. In other situations, however, the bending str

Multicomponent wavefield characterization with a novel scanning laser interferometer

Thomas Emmanuel Blum

The in-plane component of the wavefield provides valuable information about media properties from seismology to nondestructive testing. A new compact scanning laser ultrasonic interferometer collects light scattered away from the angle of incidence to provide the absolute ultrasonic displacement for both the out-of-plane and an in-plane components. This new system is tested by measuring the radial and vertical polarization of a Rayleigh wave in an aluminum half-space. The estimated amplitude ratio of the horizontal and vertical displacement agrees well with the theoretical value. The phase difference exhibits a small bias between the two components due to a slightly different frequency response between the two processing channels of the prototype electronic circuitry. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.

American Institute of Physics2010

Strain hardening in 2D discrete dislocation dynamics simulations: A new '2.5D' algorithm

William Curtin, Shyam Mohan Keralavarma

The two-dimensional discrete dislocation dynamics (2D DD) method, consisting of parallel straight edge dislocations gliding on independent slip systems in a plane strain model of a crystal, is often used to study complicated boundary value problems in crystal plasticity. However, the absence of truly three dimensional mechanisms such as junction formation means that forest hardening cannot be modeled, unless additional so-called '2.5D' constitutive rules are prescribed for short-range dislocation interactions. Here, results from three dimensional dislocation dynamics (3D DD) simulations in an FCC material are used to define new constitutive rules for short-range interactions and junction formation between dislocations on intersecting slip systems in 2D. The mutual strengthening effect of junctions on preexisting obstacles, such as precipitates or grain boundaries, is also accounted for in the model. The new '2.5D' DD model, with no arbitrary adjustable parameters beyond those obtained from lower scale simulation methods, is shown to predict athermal hardening rates, differences in flow behavior for single and multiple slip, and latent hardening ratios. All these phenomena are well-established in the plasticity of crystals and quantitative results predicted by the model are in good agreement with experimental observations. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2016

Comportement mécanique des milieux granulaires sous sollicitations cycliques

Frédéric Mayoraz

The following work deals with the characterisation of the behaviour of road bases granular material, made of tunnel excavation material and loaded by passing vehicle axles. This granular media, don't correspond generally to the standards demanded for the construction of road pavements. The thesis is a part of the project COST 337 ("Unbound granular materials for road pavements") whose aim is to develop a guideline for the design of road pavements in Europe (material production, laboratory tests, modelling of mechanical behaviour). At the beginning, several loadings of road pavements are described (mechanical, thermal, hydric), concentrating on mechanical loading. Full-scale tests and finite element simulations led to the knowledge of the order of magnitude of stresses and deformations as well as to the understanding of the rotation of the principal stresses, due to the passing of a vehicle axle. This theoretical part is followed by laboratory cyclic tests with sand to estimate the influence of the principal stress rotation on the deformability of granular media and the importance to take this phenomenon into account for the modelling. Further laboratory tests were carried out on high diameter samples (160 and 250 mm) made of tunnel excavation material. Those tests were made by performing a large number of cycles (80'000 to 250'000 cycles) and various stress paths. The aim of the tests was to measure the evolution of elastic (stiffening of material) and plastic (accumulation of permanent deformations) material characteristics during the cycles. Tools have been developed in the framework of image analysis to assess the eventual change of morphology of this non-standard granular media. Finally the modelling of the accumulation of plastic deformations is discussed in accordance to the theory of elasto-plasticity and visco-plasticity. To remove the limits of elasto-plasticity to simulate a large number of cycles, a visco-plastic approach is developed. The elegant approach, replacing the time by the number of cycles, allows to approximate the permanent deformations of a road pavement in dependence on the stress path. It provides a tool to estimate the rutting in road pavements.

EPFL2002

Comportement mécanique des milieux granulaires sous sollicitations cycliques

Frédéric Mayoraz

EPFL2002