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The kinematics of small and large deformations (displacements, rotations and strains) is described by use of the engineering strain, the logarithmic strain, the Seth‐Hill class of strains and the rate‐type strains derived using the Lagrangian and the ‘Relative’ descriptions. The displacement gradient is computed for two and three dimensions and the error associated with use of the small rotation approximation is plotted. The components of the rotation tensor are derived for a four‐noded isoparametric quadrilateral finite element for determining the error due to small displacement and rotation approximations. Finally, the various strain measures are computed and plotted for representative problems.

A general overview is presented on applications of the discrete element method (DEM) to granular media. A literature survey is performed of static and dynamic simulations using random arrays of compliant particles, and forty‐two references published mostly in the last ten years are identified and categorized according to a number of relevant criteria. It is concluded that the interest in the use of the technique is rapidly increasing in the research and engineering community, with applications concentrated in soil mechanics, rock mechanics, grain flow and engineering problems. Additional studies and verifications of some numerical aspects of the DEM technique are suggested including parametric studies and comparisons. Program CONBAL‐2 (CONTACT + TRUBAL in 2D) developed by the authors based on TRUBAL created by Strack and Cundall, is described. CONBAL‐2 uses the complete Mindlin solution for the contact between two spheres and thus can be used for small strain and cyclic loading. The program is applied to study the cyclic response of uniform, medium dense to dense rounded quartz sand. Cyclic strain‐controlled loading at constant volume is applied to isotropically consolidated, random arrays of 531 spheres, using cyclic strains ranging from 10–4% to 10–1%. The calculated shear modulus, Gmax, constrained modulus, D, and Poisson's ratio at small strains are correlated with the confining pressure, the porosity of the array, and the coordination number. The calculated variations of secant modulus and damping ratio with cyclic strain compare favourably with the experimental results on sands compiled by Seed and Idriss. Finally, ‘pore water pressure buildup’ and cyclic stiffness degradation of the material with number of cycles is calculated at a cyclic strain of 10–1%, and the prediction is found to represent closely cyclic undrained experiments on sands. The existence of a threshold strain, yt ≈ 10–2%, found experimentally, is also predicted by the simulations.

The paper reports experiments carried out on beams in pure bending. The material used was a cast magnesium alloy AZ855. The beam sections were rectangular, circular, I‐section, T‐scction and diamond. One series of tests was carried out up to 1 per cent fibre strain. A second series of tests was carried out up to fracture. Tension and compression tests were also made on the material. The experimental results show conclusively that the usual theory of plastic bending is correct and that the tension‐compression stress‐strain curve of the material may be used to determine the bending moment‐curvature relationships, etc., for a beam. Measurements of neutral axis shift also confirm the predictions of plastic bending theory.

The purpose of this paper is to perform experimental investigation and constitutive modeling of the viscoelastic and viscoplastic behavior of metallocene catalyzed polypropylene (mPP) with application to lifetime assessment under conditions of creep rupture.

Three series of experiments are conducted where the mechanical response of mPP is analyzed in tensile tests with various strain rates, relaxation tests with various strains, and creep tests with various stresses at room temperature. A constitutive model is derived for semicrystalline polymers under an arbitrary three‐dimensional deformation with small strains, and its parameters are found fitting the observations.

Crystalline structure and molecular architecture of polypropylene strongly affect its time‐ and rate‐dependent behavior. In particular, time‐to‐failure of metallocene catalyzed polypropylene under tensile creep noticeably exceeds that of isotactic polypropylene produced by the conventional Ziegler‐Natta catalysis.

Novel stress‐strain relations are developed in viscoelastoplasticity of semi‐crystalline polymers and applied to predict their mechanical behavior in long‐term creep tests.

Observation by optical microscopy and EBSP have made it clear that the trigger for the grain coarsening phenomenon of austenite stainless steel BS304S31 may be the stacking faults concentrating selectively in a thin layer lying just beneath the grain boundary. When macroscopic plastic strain reached 6 percent, selective concentration of stacking faults was observed. When it reached 20 percent, the distribution of stacking faults became uniform in each grain. After these specimens were heated, concentration of stacking faults disappeared, and grain coarsening occurred at the point with 6 percent strain, but no grain coarsening occurred at the point with 20 percent strain. In order to investigate this concentration of stacking faults, an attempt was made to analyze the deformation in each crystal by using image‐based FEM. The result suggested that there is a possibility that plastic strain concentrates in the vicinity of the grain boundary when the macroscopic plastic strain is small.

The consolidation behavior of prefabricated vertical drain (PVD)-installed soft deposits mainly depends on the PVD performance. The purpose of this study is to propose a numerical solution for the consolidation of PVD-installed soft soil using the large-strain theory, in which the reduction of discharge capacity of PVD according to depth and time is simultaneously considered.

The proposed solution also takes into account the general constitute relationship of soft soil. Subsequently, the proposed solution is applied to analyze and compare with the monitoring data of two cases, one is the experimental test and another is the test embankment in Saga airport.

The results show that the reduction of PVD discharge capacity according to depth and time increased the duration required to achieve a certain degree of consolidation. The consolidation rate is more sensitive to the reduction of PVD discharge capacity according to time than that according to the depth. The effects of the reduction of PVD discharge capacity according to depth are more evident when PVD discharge capacity decreases. The predicted results using the proposed numerical solution were validated well with the monitoring data for both cases in verification.

In this study, the variation of PVD discharge capacity is only considered in one-dimensional consolidation. However, it is challenging to implement a general expression for discharge capacity variation according to time in the two-dimensional numerical solution (two-dimensional plane strain model). This is the motivation for further study.

A geotechnical engineer could use the proposed numerical solution to predict the consolidation behavior of the drainage-improved soft deposit considering the PVD discharge capacity variation.

The large-strain consolidation of PVD-installed soft deposits could be predicted well by using the proposed numerical solution considering the PVD discharge capacity variations according to depth and time.

This paper proposes a unified original general framework, designed to theoretically develop and to extremely easily implement elastoplastic constitutive laws defined in the so called two-invariants space, both in small and finite strain regime.

A general return mapping algorithm is proposed, and particularly a standard procedure is developed to compute the two algorithmic tangent operators, required to solve the Newton–Raphson scheme at the local and global level and thus cast the elastoplastic algorithm within a FEM code.

This work demonstrates that the proposed procedure is fully general and can be applied whatever is the elastic law, the yield surface, the plastic potential function and the hardening law. Several numerical examples are reported, not only to demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the algorithm, but also explain how to use this general algorithm also in other applications.

The proposed algorithm and its numerical implementation into a FEM code is new and original. The usefulness and the value of the algorithm is twofold: (1) it can be implemented in a small and finite strain simulation FEM code, in order to handle different types of constitutive laws in the same modular way, thus fully leveraging on modern object-oriented coding approach; (2) it can be used as a framework to develop (and then to implement) new constitutive models, since the researcher can simply define the relevant functions (and its main derivatives) and automatically get the numerical algorithm.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a wireless strain sensor system which will allow easier collection of accurate strain signals in civil engineering structures. The sensor system is developed by integrating with resistance strain gauge, and the data fusion method is proposed based on batch estimation theory.

The principle of resistance strain gauge is discussed and the project of wireless acquisition system of strain signal is given. Wireless strain sensor is integrated with modularization method. Based on batch estimation theory, the data fusion method of strain signal is described. The experiment of wireless strain sensor system is finished on a typical concrete beam structure, the measure data processed by using the data fusion method and the arithmetic average value method is compared and analyzed.

The research result shows that the wireless strain sensor can be installed easily and thus is applied compatibly to local monitoring in civil engineering. The strain signal processed by the data fusion method is more accurate than the one processed by the arithmetic average value method, and thus the proposed data fusion method is fit for processing such slowly‐changing signals as strain.

In this paper, the innovation is shown from two views: one is applying wireless technique to collect strain signals; another is that data fusion with wide application can make measurements more precise and reliable by eliminating uncertain value than using the arithmetic average value method. In general, the developed wireless sensor system and the proposed data fusion method are fit for local monitoring.

The purpose of this study is to present a finite element (FE) implementation of phenomenological three-dimensional viscoelastic and viscoplastic constitutive models for long term behaviour prediction of polymers.

The method is based on the small strain assumption but is extended to large deformation for materials in which the stress-strain relation is nonlinear and the concept of incompressibility is governing. An empirical approach is used for determining material parameters in the constitutive equations, based on measured material properties. The modelling process uses a spring and dash-pot and a power-law approximation function method for viscoelastic and viscoplastic nonlinear behaviour, respectively. The model improvement for long term behaviour prediction is done by modifying the material parameters in such a way that they account for the current test time. The determination of material properties is based on the non-separable type of relations for nonlinear materials in which the material properties change with stress coupled with time.

The proposed viscoelastic and viscoplastic models are implemented in a user material algorithm of the FE general-purpose program ABAQUS and the validity of the models is assessed by comparisons with experimental observations from tests on high-density polyethylene samples in one-dimensional tensile loading. Comparisons show that the proposed constitutive model can satisfactorily represent the time-dependent mechanical behaviour of polymers even for long term predictions.

The study provides a new approach in long term investigation of material behaviour using FE analysis.

The solder‐joint reliability of solder‐bumped wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) on microvia build‐up printed circuit board (PCB) subjected to thermal cycling conditions is investigated in this study. The 62Sn36Pb2Ag solder joints are assumed to be: an elastic material; an elastic‐plastic material; and a creep material which obey the Garofalo‐Arrhenius steady‐state creep constitutive law. The stress and strain in the corner solder joint of the WLCSP assembly are presented and compared for these three material models. Also, the results presented herein will be compared with that from creep analysis of the WLCSP on PCB without microvia build‐up layer.