Rate-independent evolution of sets

The goal of this work is to analyze a model for the rate-independent evolution of sets with finite perimeter. The evolution of the admissible sets is driven by that of a given time-dependent set, which has to include the admissible sets and hence is to be understood as an external loading. The process is driven by the competition between perimeter minimization and minimization of volume changes. \par In the mathematical modeling of this process, we distinguish the adhesive case, in which the constraint that the (complement of) the `external load' contains the evolving sets is penalized by a term contributing to the driving energy functional, from the brittle case, enforcing this constraint. The existence of Energetic solutions for the adhesive system is proved by passing to the limit in the associated time-incremental minimization scheme. In the brittle case, this time-discretization procedure gives rise to evolving sets satisfying the stability condition, but it remains an open problem to additionally deduce energy-dissipation balance in the time-continuous limit. This can be obtained under some suitable quantification of data. The properties of the brittle evolution law are illustrated by numerical examples in two space dimensions.Comment: Dedicated to Alexander Mielke on the occasion of his 60th birthda

Quasistatic damage evolution with spatial BV-regularization

An existence result for energetic solutions of rate-independent damage processes is established. We consider a body consisting of a physically linearly elastic material undergoing infinitesimally small deformations and partial damage. In [ThomasMielke10DamageZAMM] an existence result in the small strain setting was obtained under the assumption that the damage variable z satisfies z∈ W1,r(Ω) with r∈(1,∞) for Ω⊂Rd. We now cover the case r=1. The lack of compactness in W1,1(Ω) requires to do the analysis in BV(Ω). This setting allows it to consider damage variables with values in 0,1. We show that such a brittle damage model is obtained as the Γ-limit of functionals of Modica-Mortola type

Uniform Poincaré--Sobolev and relative isoperimetric inequalities for classes of domains

The aim of this paper is to prove an isoperimetric inequality relative to a d-dimensional, bounded, convex domain &Omega intersected with balls with a uniform relative isoperimetric constant, independent of the size of the radius r>0 and the position y∈cl(&Omega) of the center of the ball. For this, uniform Sobolev, Poincar'e and Poincar'e-Sobolev inequalities are deduced for classes of (not necessarily convex) domains that satisfy a uniform cone property. It is shown that the constants in all of these inequalities solely depend on the dimensions of the cone, space dimension d, the diameter of the domain and the integrability exponent p∈[1,d)

Quasistatic damage evolution with spatial BV-regularization

An existence result for energetic solutions of rate-independent damage processes is established. We consider a body consisting of a physically linearly elastic material undergoing infinitesimally small deformations and partial damage. In [ThomasMielke10DamageZAMM] an existence result in the small strain setting was obtained under the assumption that the damage variable z satisfies z∈ W1,r(Ω) with r∈(1,∞) for Ω⊂Rd. We now cover the case r=1. The lack of compactness in W1,1(Ω) requires to do the analysis in BV(Ω). This setting allows it to consider damage variables with values in 0,1. We show that such a brittle damage model is obtained as the Γ-limit of functionals of Modica-Mortola type

Uniform Poincaré-Sobolev and relative isoperimetric inequalities for classes of domains

The aim of this paper is to prove an isoperimetric inequality relative to a d-dimensional, bounded, convex domain &Omega intersected with balls with a uniform relative isoperimetric constant, independent of the size of the radius r>0 and the position y∈cl(&Omega) of the center of the ball. For this, uniform Sobolev, Poincaré and Poincaré-Sobolev inequalities are deduced for classes of (not necessarily convex) domains that satisfy a uniform cone property. It is shown that the constants in all of these inequalities solely depend on the dimensions of the cone, space dimension d, the diameter of the domain and the integrability exponent p∈[1,d)

A comparison of delamination models: Modeling, properties, and applications

This contribution presents recent results in the modeling and the analysis of delamination problems. It addresses adhesive contact, brittle, and cohesive zone models both in a quasistatic and a viscous, dynamic setting for the bulk part. Also different evolution laws for the delaminating surface are discussed

Cohesive zone-type delamination in visco-elasticity : to the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Tomaš Roubícek

We study a model for the rate-independent evolution of cohesive zone delamination in a viscoelastic solid, also exposed to dynamics effects. The main feature of this model, inspired by [OP99], is that the surface energy related to the crack opening depends on the history of the crack separation between the two sides of the crack path, and allows for different responses upon loading and unloading. Due to the presence of multivalued and unbounded operators featuring non-penetration and the memory-constraint in the strong formulation of the problem, we prove existence of a weaker notion of solution, known as semistable energetic solution, pioneered in [Rou09] and refined in [RT15a]

Damage of nonlinearly elastic materials at small strain --- Existence and regularity results

In this paper an existence result for energetic solutions of rate-independent damage processes is established and the temporal regularity of the solution is discussed. We consider a body consisting of a physically nonlinearly elastic material undergoing small deformations and partial damage. The present work is a generalization of [Mielke-Roubicek 2006] concerning the properties of the stored elastic energy density as well as the suitable Sobolev space for the damage variable: While previous work assumes that the damage variable z satisfies z \∈ W^{1,r} (\Omega) with r>d for \Omega \⊂ \R^d, we can handle the case r>1 by a new technique for the construction of joint recovery sequences. Moreover, this work generalizes the temporal regularity results to physically nonlinearly elastic materials by analyzing Lipschitz- and Hölder-continuity of solutions with respect to time

From nonlinear to linear elasticity in a coupled rate-dependent/independent system for brittle delamination

We revisit the weak, energetic-type existence results obtained in [Rossi/Thomas-ESAIM-COCV-21(1):1-59,2015] for a system for rate-independent, brittle delamination between two visco-elastic, physically nonlinear bulk materials and explain how to rigorously extend such results to the case of visco-elastic, linearly elastic bulk materials. Our approximation result is essentially based on deducing the Mosco-convergence of the functionals involved in the energetic formulation of the system. We apply this approximation result in two different situations: Firstly, to pass from a nonlinearly elastic to a linearly elastic, brittle model on the time-continuous level, and secondly, to pass from a time-discrete to a time-continuous model using an adhesive contact approximation of the brittle model, in combination with a vanishing, super-quadratic regularization of the bulk energy. The latter approach is beneficial if the model also accounts for the evolution of temperature

Coupling rate-independent and rate-dependent processes: Existence results

We address the analysis of an abstract system coupling a rate-independent process with a second order (in time) nonlinear evolution equation. We propose suitable weak solution concepts and obtain existence results by passing to the limit in carefully devised time-discretization schemes. Our arguments combine techniques from the theory of gradient systems with the toolbox for rate-independent evolution, thus reflecting the mixed character of the problem. Finally, we discuss applications to a class of rate-independent processes in visco-elastic solids with inertia, and to a recently proposed model for damage with plasticity