Variational Theory and Domain Decomposition for Nonlocal Problems

In this article we present the first results on domain decomposition methods for nonlocal operators. We present a nonlocal variational formulation for these operators and establish the well-posedness of associated boundary value problems, proving a nonlocal Poincar\'{e} inequality. To determine the conditioning of the discretized operator, we prove a spectral equivalence which leads to a mesh size independent upper bound for the condition number of the stiffness matrix. We then introduce a nonlocal two-domain variational formulation utilizing nonlocal transmission conditions, and prove equivalence with the single-domain formulation. A nonlocal Schur complement is introduced. We establish condition number bounds for the nonlocal stiffness and Schur complement matrices. Supporting numerical experiments demonstrating the conditioning of the nonlocal one- and two-domain problems are presented.Comment: Updated the technical part. In press in Applied Mathematics and Computatio

A quasinonlocal coupling method for nonlocal and local diffusion models

In this paper, we extend the idea of "geometric reconstruction" to couple a nonlocal diffusion model directly with the classical local diffusion in one dimensional space. This new coupling framework removes interfacial inconsistency, ensures the flux balance, and satisfies energy conservation as well as the maximum principle, whereas none of existing coupling methods for nonlocal-to-local coupling satisfies all of these properties. We establish the well-posedness and provide the stability analysis of the coupling method. We investigate the difference to the local limiting problem in terms of the nonlocal interaction range. Furthermore, we propose a first order finite difference numerical discretization and perform several numerical tests to confirm the theoretical findings. In particular, we show that the resulting numerical result is free of artifacts near the boundary of the domain where a classical local boundary condition is used, together with a coupled fully nonlocal model in the interior of the domain

On the stability of the generalized, finite deformation correspondence model of peridynamics

A class of peridynamic material models known as constitutive correspondence models provide a bridge between classical continuum mechanics and peridynamics. These models are useful because they allow well-established local constitutive theories to be used within the nonlocal framework of peridynamics. A recent finite deformation correspondence theory (Foster and Xu, 2018) was developed and reported to improve stability properties of the original correspondence model (Silling et al., 2007). This paper presents a stability analysis that indicates the reported advantages of the new theory were overestimated. Homogeneous deformations are analyzed and shown to exibit unstable material behavior at the continuum level. Additionally, the effects of a particle discretization on the stability of the model are reported. Numerical examples demonstrate the large errors induced by the unstable behavior. Stabilization strategies and practical applications of the new finite deformation model are discussed

Numerical Methods for the Nonlocal Wave Equation of the Peridynamics

In this paper we will consider the peridynamic equation of motion which is described by a second order in time partial integro-differential equation. This equation has recently received great attention in several fields of Engineering because seems to provide an effective approach to modeling mechanical systems avoiding spatial discontinuous derivatives and body singularities. In particular, we will consider the linear model of peridynamics in a one-dimensional spatial domain. Here we will review some numerical techniques to solve this equation and propose some new computational methods of higher order in space; moreover we will see how to apply the methods studied for the linear model to the nonlinear one. Also a spectral method for the spatial discretization of the linear problem will be discussed. Several numerical tests will be given in order to validate our results

Cohesive Dynamics and Brittle Fracture

We formulate a nonlocal cohesive model for calculating the deformation state inside a cracking body. In this model a more complete set of physical properties including elastic and softening behavior are assigned to each point in the medium. We work within the small deformation setting and use the peridynamic formulation. Here strains are calculated as difference quotients. The constitutive relation is given by a nonlocal cohesive law relating force to strain. At each instant of the evolution we identify a process zone where strains lie above a threshold value. Perturbation analysis shows that jump discontinuities within the process zone can become unstable and grow. We derive an explicit inequality that shows that the size of the process zone is controlled by the ratio given by the length scale of nonlocal interaction divided by the characteristic dimension of the sample. The process zone is shown to concentrate on a set of zero volume in the limit where the length scale of nonlocal interaction vanishes with respect to the size of the domain. In this limit the dynamic evolution is seen to have bounded linear elastic energy and Griffith surface energy. The limit dynamics corresponds to the simultaneous evolution of linear elastic displacement and the fracture set across which the displacement is discontinuous. We conclude illustrating how the approach developed here can be applied to limits of dynamics associated with other energies that $\Gamma$- converge to the Griffith fracture energy.Comment: 38 pages, 4 figures, typographical errors corrected, removed section 7 of previous version and added section 8 to the current version, changed title to Cohesive Dynamics and Brittle Fracture. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1305.453