2,607 research outputs found
Ab initio parametrised model of strain-dependent solubility of H in alpha-iron
The calculated effects of interstitial hydrogen on the elastic properties of
alpha-iron from our earlier work are used to describe the H interactions with
homogeneous strain fields using ab initio methods. In particular we calculate
the H solublility in Fe subject to hydrostatic, uniaxial, and shear strain. For
comparison, these interactions are parametrised successfully using a simple
model with parameters entirely derived from ab initio methods. The results are
used to predict the solubility of H in spatially-varying elastic strain fields,
representative of realistic dislocations outside their core. We find a strong
directional dependence of the H-dislocation interaction, leading to strong
attraction of H by the axial strain components of edge dislocations and by
screw dislocations oriented along the critical slip direction. We
further find a H concentration enhancement around dislocation cores, consistent
with experimental observations.Comment: part 2/2 from splitting of 1009.3784 (first part was 1102.0187),
minor changes from previous version
Scaling Behaviour and Complexity of the Portevin-Le Chatelier Effect
The plastic deformation of dilute alloys is often accompanied by plastic
instabilities due to dynamic strain aging and dislocation interaction. The
repeated breakaway of dislocations from and their recapture by solute atoms
leads to stress serrations and localized strain in the strain controlled
tensile tests, known as the Portevin-Le Chatelier (PLC) effect. In this present
work, we analyse the stress time series data of the observed PLC effect in the
constant strain rate tensile tests on Al-2.5%Mg alloy for a wide range of
strain rates at room temperature. The scaling behaviour of the PLC effect was
studied using two complementary scaling analysis methods: the finite variance
scaling method and the diffusion entropy analysis. From these analyses we could
establish that in the entire span of strain rates, PLC effect showed Levy walk
property. Moreover, the multiscale entropy analysis is carried out on the
stress time series data observed during the PLC effect to quantify the
complexity of the distinct spatiotemporal dynamical regimes. It is shown that
for the static type C band, the entropy is very low for all the scales compared
to the hopping type B and the propagating type A bands. The results are
interpreted considering the time and length scales relevant to the effect.Comment: 35 pages, 6 figure
Recommendations for riparian ecosystem management based on the general frame defined in EUFORGEN and results from EUROPOP
International audienc
Density hardening plasticity and mechanical aging of silica glass under pressure: A Raman spectroscopic study
In addition of a flow, plastic deformation of structural glasses (in
particular amorphous silica) is characterized by a permanent densification.
Raman spectroscopic estimators are shown to give a full account of the plastic
behavior of silica under pressure. While the permanent densification of silica
has been widely discussed in terms of amorphous-amorphous transition, from a
plasticity point of view, the evolution of the residual densification with the
maximum pressure of a pressure cycle can be discussed as a density hardening
phenomenon. In the framework of such a mechanical aging effect, we propose that
the glass structure could be labelled by the maximum pressure experienced by
the glass and that the saturation of densification could be associated with the
densest packing of tetrahedra only linked by their vertices
Critical Dynamics of Burst Instabilities in the Portevin-Le Chatelier Effect
We investigate the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect (PLC), by compressing Al-Mg
alloys in a very large deformation range, and interpret the results from the
viewpoint of phase transitions and critical phenomena. The system undergoes two
dynamical phase transitions between intermittent (or "jerky") and "laminar"
plastic dynamic phases. Near these two dynamic critical points, the order
parameter 1/\tau of the PLC effect exhibits large fluctuations, and "critical
slowing down" (i.e., the number of bursts, or plastic instabilities, per
unit time slows down considerably).Comment: the published 4-page version is in the PRL web sit
Big Entropy Fluctuations in Statistical Equilibrium: The Macroscopic Kinetics
Large entropy fluctuations in an equilibrium steady state of classical
mechanics were studied in extensive numerical experiments on a simple
2--freedom strongly chaotic Hamiltonian model described by the modified Arnold
cat map. The rise and fall of a large separated fluctuation was shown to be
described by the (regular and stable) "macroscopic" kinetics both fast
(ballistic) and slow (diffusive). We abandoned a vague problem of "appropriate"
initial conditions by observing (in a long run)spontaneous birth and death of
arbitrarily big fluctuations for any initial state of our dynamical model.
Statistics of the infinite chain of fluctuations, reminiscent to the Poincar\'e
recurrences, was shown to be Poissonian. A simple empirical relation for the
mean period between the fluctuations (Poincar\'e "cycle") has been found and
confirmed in numerical experiments. A new representation of the entropy via the
variance of only a few trajectories ("particles") is proposed which greatly
facilitates the computation, being at the same time fairly accurate for big
fluctuations. The relation of our results to a long standing debates over
statistical "irreversibility" and the "time arrow" is briefly discussed too.Comment: Latex 2.09, 26 pages, 6 figure
Big Entropy Fluctuations in Nonequilibrium Steady State: A Simple Model with Gauss Heat Bath
Large entropy fluctuations in a nonequilibrium steady state of classical
mechanics were studied in extensive numerical experiments on a simple 2-freedom
model with the so-called Gauss time-reversible thermostat. The local
fluctuations (on a set of fixed trajectory segments) from the average heat
entropy absorbed in thermostat were found to be non-Gaussian. Approximately,
the fluctuations can be discribed by a two-Gaussian distribution with a
crossover independent of the segment length and the number of trajectories
('particles'). The distribution itself does depend on both, approaching the
single standard Gaussian distribution as any of those parameters increases. The
global time-dependent fluctuations turned out to be qualitatively different in
that they have a strict upper bound much less than the average entropy
production. Thus, unlike the equilibrium steady state, the recovery of the
initial low entropy becomes impossible, after a sufficiently long time, even in
the largest fluctuations. However, preliminary numerical experiments and the
theoretical estimates in the special case of the critical dynamics with
superdiffusion suggest the existence of infinitely many Poincar\'e recurrences
to the initial state and beyond. This is a new interesting phenomenon to be
farther studied together with some other open questions. Relation of this
particular example of nonequilibrium steady state to a long-standing persistent
controversy over statistical 'irreversibility', or the notorious 'time arrow',
is also discussed. In conclusion, an unsolved problem of the origin of the
causality 'principle' is touched upon.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure
A Markovian event-based framework for stochastic spiking neural networks
In spiking neural networks, the information is conveyed by the spike times,
that depend on the intrinsic dynamics of each neuron, the input they receive
and on the connections between neurons. In this article we study the Markovian
nature of the sequence of spike times in stochastic neural networks, and in
particular the ability to deduce from a spike train the next spike time, and
therefore produce a description of the network activity only based on the spike
times regardless of the membrane potential process.
To study this question in a rigorous manner, we introduce and study an
event-based description of networks of noisy integrate-and-fire neurons, i.e.
that is based on the computation of the spike times. We show that the firing
times of the neurons in the networks constitute a Markov chain, whose
transition probability is related to the probability distribution of the
interspike interval of the neurons in the network. In the cases where the
Markovian model can be developed, the transition probability is explicitly
derived in such classical cases of neural networks as the linear
integrate-and-fire neuron models with excitatory and inhibitory interactions,
for different types of synapses, possibly featuring noisy synaptic integration,
transmission delays and absolute and relative refractory period. This covers
most of the cases that have been investigated in the event-based description of
spiking deterministic neural networks
A dynamical approach to the spatiotemporal aspects of the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect: Chaos,turbulence and band propagation
Experimental time series obtained from single and poly-crystals subjected to
a constant strain rate tests report an intriguing dynamical crossover from a
low dimensional chaotic state at medium strain rates to an infinite dimensional
power law state of stress drops at high strain rates. We present results of an
extensive study of all aspects of the PLC effect within the context a model
that reproduces this crossover. A study of the distribution of the Lyapunov
exponents as a function of strain rate shows that it changes from a small set
of positive exponents in the chaotic regime to a dense set of null exponents in
the scaling regime. As the latter feature is similar to the GOY shell model for
turbulence, we compare our results with the GOY model. Interestingly, the null
exponents in our model themselves obey a power law. The configuration of
dislocations is visualized through the slow manifold analysis. This shows that
while a large proportion of dislocations are in the pinned state in the chaotic
regime, most of them are at the threshold of unpinning in the scaling regime.
The model qualitatively reproduces the different types of deformation bands
seen in experiments. At high strain rates where propagating bands are seen, the
model equations are reduced to the Fisher-Kolmogorov equation for propagative
fronts. This shows that the velocity of the bands varies linearly with the
strain rate and inversely with the dislocation density, consistent with the
known experimental results. Thus, this simple dynamical model captures the
complex spatio-temporal features of the PLC effect.Comment: 17 pages, 18 figure
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