Gradient theory for plasticity via homogenization of discrete dislocations (Q990223)

In physics, plasticity is understood to arise from crystal defects called dislocations. A macroscopic theory of plasticity, strain gradient theory, assumes that the gradient of the displacement field decomposes into the sum of an elastic part \(\beta\) and a plastic part. Moreover, the stored energy \(E\) is assumed to be the sum of the elastic energy \(\int W(\beta)\,dx\), where the quadratic form \(W\) is defined by the elasticity tensor, and the plastic energy \(\int\varphi(\mu)\,dx\), where the dislocation density \(\mu\) equals the curl of \(\beta\). It is known that \(\varphi\) should not be quadratic to allow spatial concentration of \(\mu\). Starting from a basic model of discrete dislocations, the authors derive, in two space dimensions, a strain gradient theory of plasticity. More precisely, they obtain a stored energy of the aforementioned form as a \(\Gamma\)-limit as \(\varepsilon\to 0\) of an energy functional \(E_\varepsilon(\mu,\beta)\) suitably rescaled. The parameter \(\varepsilon\) defines the atomic scale. The plastic energy density function \(\varphi\) is obtained through an asymptotic formula and shown to be positively \(1\)-homogeneous. Three distinct regimes arise leading to different \(\Gamma\)-limits. The regimes are defined by the limiting behaviour of \(N_\varepsilon/|\log\varepsilon|\), where \(N_\varepsilon\) denotes the number of dislocations.