Random Heterogeneous Materials

This accessible text presents a unified approach of treating the microstructure and effective properties of heterogeneous media. Part I deals with the quantitative characterization of the microstructure of heterogeneous via theoretical methods; Part II treats a wide variety of effective properties of heterogeneous materials and how they are linked to the microstructure, accomplished by using rigorous methods.

"This volume gives the proceedings of the sixteenth German Conference on Artificial Intelligence, held in the Gustav Stresemann Institute in Berlin from August 31 to September 3, 1992. The volume contains 24 papers presentedin the technical sessions, 8 papers selected from the workshop contributions, and an invited talk by D.M. Gabbay entitled "Howto construct a logic for your application". Topics discussed in the technical papers include: a model elimination calculus, a sorted logic, human theorem proving, deduction based on Shannon graphs, expert system applications, knowledge engineering, time interval networks, forward logic evaluation, concept support, heuristic inductivegeneralization, language engineering, feature logic, similarity assessment, and many others."--PUBLISHER'S WEBSITE.

Here is an accurate and timely account of micromechanics, which spans materials science, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, technical physics, geophysics, and biology. The book features rigorous and unified theoretical methods of applied mathematics and statistical physics in the material science of microheterogeneous media. Uniquely, it offers a useful demonstration of the systematic and fundamental research of the microstructure of the wide class of heterogeneous materials of natural and synthetic nature.

Statistical correlation functions are a well-known class of statistical descriptors that can be used to describe the morphology and the microstructure-properties relationship. A comprehensive study has been performed for the use of these correlation functions for the reconstruction and homogenization in nano-composite materials. Correlation functions are measured from different techniques such as microscopy (SEM or TEM), small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and can be generated through Monte Carlo simulations. In this book, different experimental techniques such as SAXS and image processing are presented, which are used to measure two-point correlation function correlation for multi-phase polymer composites. Higher order correlation functions must be calculated or measured to increase the precision of the statistical continuum approach. To achieve this aim, a new approximation methodology is utilized to obtain N-point correlation functions for multiphase heterogeneous materials. The two-point functions measured by different techniques have been exploited to reconstruct the microstructure of heterogeneous media. Statistical continuum theory is used to predict the effective thermal conductivity and elastic modulus of polymer composites. N-point probability functions as statistical descriptors of inclusions have been exploited to solve strong contrast homogenization for effective thermal conductivity and elastic modulus properties of heterogeneous materials. Finally, reconstructed microstructure is used to calculate effective properties and damage modeling of heterogeneous materials.

This book presents the micromechanics of random structure heterogeneous materials, a multidisciplinary research area that has experienced a revolutionary renascence at the overlap of various branches of materials science, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, technical physics, geophysics, and biology. It demonstrates intriguing successes of unified rigorous theoretical methods of applied mathematics and statistical physics in material science of microheterogeneous media. The prediction of the behaviour of heterogeneous materials by the use of properties of constituents and their microstructure is a central problem of micromechanics. This book is the first in micromechanics where a successful effort of systematic and fundamental research of the microstructure of the wide class of heterogeneous materials of natural and synthetic nature is attempted. The uniqueness of the book lies in its development and expressive representation of statistical methods quantitatively describing random structures which are at most adopted for the forthcoming evaluation of a wide variety of macroscopic transport, electromagnetic, strength, and elastoplastic properties of heterogeneous materials.

This monograph deals with the behavior of essentially nonlinear heterogeneous materials in processes occurring under intense dynamic loading, where microstructural effects play the main role. This book is not an introduction to the dynamic behavior of materials, and general information available in other books is not included. The material herein is presented in a form I hope will make it useful not only for researchers working in related areas, but also for graduate students. I used it successfully to teach a course on the dynamic behavior of materials at the University of California, San Diego. Another course well suited to the topic may be nonlinear wave dynamics in solids, especially the part on strongly nonlinear waves. About 100 problems presented in the book at the end of each chapter will help the reader to develop a deeper understanding of the subject. I tried to follow a few rules in writing this book: (1) To focus on strongly nonlinear phenomena where there is no small parameter with respect to the amplitude of disturbance, including solitons, shock waves, and localized shear. (2) To take into account phenomena sensitive to materials structure, where typical space scale of material parameters (particle size, cell size) are presented in the models or are variable in experimental research.

This is a book about mathematical modelling. It focuses on the modelling of the preparation of materials. Materials are important, of course, in an economic sense: the "goods" of goods-and-services are made of materials. This provides a strong incentive to produce good materials and to improve existing materials. Mathematical modelling can help in this regard. Without a doubt, modelling a materials processing operation is not strictly necessary. Materials synthesis and fabrication processes certainly existed before the invention of mathematics and computers, and well before the combined use of mathematics and computers. Modelling can, however, be of assistance--if done properly--and if used properly. The mathematical modelling described in this book is, at its root, a rather formal, structured way of thinking about materials synthesis and fabrication processes. It requires looking at a process as a whole. It requires considering everything that is or might be important. It requires translating the details of a given physical process into one or more mathematical equations. It requires knowing how to simplify the equations without over-simplifying them.