La prédiction des microstructures représente un enjeu majeur pour l'étude des processus de vieillissement des alliages métalliques, en particulier sous irradiation. Les résultats des calculs ab initio de structure électronique peuvent être utilisés pour paramétrer les méthodes cinétiques de Monte Carlo Atomique et permettent ainsi de simuler quantitativement la diffusion des atomes et l'évolution de la microstructure qui en résulte. Cette méthode est cependant limitée par le temps de calcul qu'elle exige. Les simulations mésoscopiques évitent cet écueil, mais souffrent généralement de ne pouvoir être paramétrées sur les résultats obtenus aux échelles inférieures, limitant ainsi leur pouvoir de prédiction. Dans ce travail, une méthode de simulation appelée Monte Carlo cellulaire cinétique a été développée pour relier les échelles atomiques et mésoscopiques tout en conservant la nature discrète des atomes. Une procédure de paramétrisation basée sur les simulations Monte Carlo à l'échelle atomique a été établie. Elle permet de reproduire quantitativement les propriétés macroscopiques d'équilibre des alliages indépendamment de la taille des cellules utilisées. Une application à l'alliage fer-cuivre est présentée. Afin de décrire les propriétés cinétiques à ces échelles, un outil générique de calcul de la matrice d'Onsager dans les alliages a été mis en place. Il est fondé sur la theorie du Champ Moyen Auto-Cohérent. Les résultats obtenus sur des cinétiques de diffusion et de précipitation dans un alliage modèle sont présentés et validés par une comparaison systématique avec des simulations Monte Carlo à l'échelle atomique. / Predicting microstructural evolution is a decisive step in the study of aging processes in alloys, especially under irradiation. The results of ab initio calculations of electronic structures can be used to parameterize kinetic methods such as Atomic Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations that allow reproducing quantitatively atomic diffusion and the resulting microstructure. Their use is however limited by their computational cost. Mesoscopic simulations are less concerned by such limitation, but suffer from the lack of reliable parameterization method to use data from simulations at lower scales that leads to a limited prediction capacity. A simulation method called Cellular Kinetic Monte Carlo is developed in this work to bridge the gap scales between atomic and mesoscopic scale simulation of diffusion. A crystal is there modeled as a. This method is based on a description of the crystal as a lattice of cells described by the discrete number of solute atoms they represents. The properties are then obtained by a controlled coarse-graining procedure based on Atomic Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. It allows reproducing quantitatively macroscopic equilibrium for all cell sizes and has been applied to the Iron-Copper alloy. In order to describe kinetic properties at these scales, a generic computational tool has been developed to compute the Onsager matrix of alloys, based on the Self Consistent Mean field method. Diffusion and precipitation simulations have been done and the results are presented and assessed by a systematic comparison with Atomic Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations.

abstract: Polyurea is a highly versatile material used in coatings and armor systems to protect against extreme conditions such as ballistic impact, cavitation erosion, and blast loading. However, the relationships between microstructurally-dependent deformation mechanisms and the mechanical properties of polyurea are not yet fully understood, especially under extreme conditions. In this work, multi-scale coarse-grained models are developed to probe molecular dynamics across the wide range of time and length scales that these fundamental deformation mechanisms operate. In the first of these models, a high-resolution coarse-grained model of polyurea is developed, where similar to united-atom models, hydrogen atoms are modeled implicitly. This model was trained using a modified iterative Boltzmann inversion method that dramatically reduces the number of iterations required. Coarse-grained simulations using this model demonstrate that multiblock systems evolve to form a more interconnected hard phase, compared to the more interrupted hard phase composed of distinct ribbon-shaped domains found in diblock systems. Next, a reactive coarse-grained model is developed to simulate the influence of the difference in time scales for step-growth polymerization and phase segregation in polyurea. Analysis of the simulated cured polyurea systems reveals that more rapid reaction rates produce a smaller diameter ligaments in the gyroidal hard phase as well as increased covalent bonding connecting the hard domain ligaments as evidenced by a larger fraction of bridging segments and larger mean radius of gyration of the copolymer chains. The effect that these processing-induced structural variations have on the mechanical properties of the polymer was tested by simulating uniaxial compression, which revealed that the higher degree of hard domain connectivity leads to a 20% increase in the flow stress. A hierarchical multiresolution framework is proposed to fully link coarse-grained molecular simulations across a broader range of time scales, in which a family of coarse-grained models are developed. The models are connected using an incremental reverse–mapping scheme allowing for long time scale dynamics simulated at a highly coarsened resolution to be passed all the way to an atomistic representation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Mechanical Engineering 2020

Die vorliegende Arbeit behandelt die Modellierung von Fließprozessen in Grundwasserleitern. Grundlage dafür ist die Grundwassergleichung, welche diese Prozesse mathematisch beschreibt. Die wichtigste hydraulische Eigenschaft von Untergründen ist hierbei die hydraulische Leitfähigkeit, welche die Fließgeschwindigkeit des Grundwassers angibt. Da man die Verteilung der Leitfähigkeit in einem betrachten Wasserleiter aber durch das Fehlen von Informationen nicht vollständig bestimmen kann, ist man auf vereinfachende Modelle und Versuchsszenarien angewiesen. In der Vergangenheit haben sich zur Untersuchung von Böden sogenannte Pumpversuche etabliert, wobei ein Brunnen gebohrt wird, welcher den Grundwasserleiter vollständig durchteuft und an dem mit konstanter Rate Wasser aus dem Boden gepumpt wird. Parallel beobachtet man an einem oder mehreren Referenzbrunnen die sich verändernde hydraulische Druckhöhe. Aus diesen Daten möchte man Informationen über den betrachteten Boden gewinnen. Dazu braucht es gewisse Modellfunktionen, welche für fest definierte Standardsituationen das Grundwasserverhalten beschreiben. Eine Möglichkeit, Böden zu klassifizieren ist es, die heterogene Struktur der Leitfähigkeit durch log-normal verteilte Zufallsgrößen zu modellieren. Dabei beschränkt man sich auf den Mittelwert, die Varianz und die Korrelationslänge dieser Verteilungen. Das hier zugrunde liegende Coarse-Graining-Modell generiert zu diesen Parametern eine effektive Leitfähigkeitsverteilung, welche nur vom radialen Abstand zum Pumpbrunnen abhängt. Damit wird die Grundwassergleichung zu einer radialsymmetrischen parabolischen Differentialgleichung. Zu dieser Differentialgleichung wurde in der vorliegenden Arbeit ein Lösungsalgorithmus entwickelt und implementiert sowie anschließend gegen verschiedene Parametereingaben getestet.

No description available.

The present thesis is on the error estimates of different energy based quasicontinuum (QC) methods, which are a class of computational methods for the coupling of atomistic and continuum models for micro- or nano-scale materials. The thesis consists of two parts. The first part considers the a priori error estimates of three energy based QC methods. The second part deals with the a posteriori error estimates of a specific energy based QC method which was recently developed. In the first part, we develop a unified framework for the a priori error estimates and present a new and simpler proof based on negative-norm estimates, which essentially extends previous results. In the second part, we establish the a posteriori error estimates for the newly developed energy based QC method for an energy norm and for the total energy. The analysis is based on a posteriori residual and stability estimates. Adaptive mesh refinement algorithms based on these error estimators are formulated. In both parts, numerical experiments are presented to illustrate the results of our analysis and indicate the optimal convergence rates. The thesis is accompanied by a thorough introduction to the development of the QC methods and its numerical analysis, as well as an outlook of the future work in the conclusion.

Despite numerous advances in experimental methodologies capable of addressing the various phenomenon occurring on metal surfaces, atomic scale resolution of the microscopic dynamics remains elusive for most systems. Computational models of the processes may serve as an alternative tool to fill this void. To this end, parallel molecular dynamics simulations of self-diffusion on metal surfaces have been developed and employed to address microscopic details of the system. However these simulations are not without their limitations and prove to be computationally impractical for a variety of chemically relevant systems, particularly for diffusive events occurring in the low temperature regime. To circumvent this difficulty, a corresponding coarse-grained representation of the surface is also developed resulting in a reduction of the required computational effort by several orders of magnitude, and this description becomes all the more advantageous with increasing system size and complexity. This representation provides a convenient framework to address fundamental aspects of diffusion in nonequilibrium environments and an interesting mechanism for directing diffusive motion along the surface is explored. In the ensuing discussion, additional topics including transition state theory in noisy systems and the construction of a checking function for protein structure validation are outlined. For decades the former has served as a cornerstone for estimates of chemical reaction rates. However, in complex environments transition state theory most always provides only an upper bound for the true rate. An alternative approach is described that may alleviate some of the difficulties associated with this problem. Finally, one of the grand challenges facing the computational sciences is to develop methods capable of reconstructing protein structure based solely on readily-available sequence information. Herein a checking function is developed that may prove useful for addressing whether a particular proposed structure is a viable possibility.

La prévision de l'évolution des déchets radioactifs lors d'un stockage en couche géologique argileuse profonde nécessite une bonne compréhension du transport de l'eau et des ions dans l'argile. Leur diffusion dans ce milieu poreux et chargé est décrite par des paramètres empiriques, comme le coefficient de distribution (Kd) qui rend compte des interactions avec les surfaces minérales. Notre travail a porté sur la pertinence de ce concept et sa définition à partir de processus microscopiques. <br /><br />Nous avons d'abord modélisé la contribution ionique aux propriétés diélectriques des argiles, et proposé une détermination de Kd par spectroscopie diélectrique. <br /><br />Nous avons ensuite calculé par simulations microscopiques (Monte-Carlo et dynamique moléculaire) les enthalpies libres et enthalpies d'échange ionique pour les ions alcalins, qui contrôlent Kd et ses variations avec la température T. Les résultats pour le césium sont en bon accord avec des mesures de microcalorimétrie et de Kd en fonction de T. <br /><br />Après avoir contribué au développement d'une nouvelle méthode de simulation sur réseau (Lattice Fokker-Planck), nous l'avons utilisée pour établir un lien explicite entre la dynamique microscopique des ions et le modèle de diffusion-réaction qui sous-tend la notion de Kd. <br /><br />Enfin, nous avons étudié par simulation de dynamique moléculaire la cinétique d'échange d'eau et d'ions entre les particules d'argile (porosité interfoliaire) et la porosité extra-particulaire. Les résultats confirment les hypothèses généralement admises selon lesquelles l'eau et les cations peuvent explorer toute la porosité, tandis que les anions sont exclus des espaces interfoliaires.

LTA-type zeolites with narrow window apertures coinciding with the approximate size of small gaseous molecules such as CO2 and N2 are interesting candidates for adsorbents with swing adsorption technologies due to their molecular sieving capabilities and otherwise attractive properties. These sieving capabilities are dependent on the energy barriers of diffusion between the zeolite pores, which can be fine-tuned by altering the framework composition. An ab initio level of theory is necessary to accurately describe specific gas-zeolite interaction and diffusion properties, while it is desirable to predict the macroscopic scale diffusion for industrial applications. Hence, a multiscale modeling approach is necessary to describe the molecular sieving phenomena exhaustively. In this thesis, we use several different modeling methods on different length and time scales to describe the diffusion driven uptake and separation of CO2 and N2 in Zeolite NaKA. A combination of classical force field based modeling methods are used to show the importance of taking into account both thermodynamic, as well as, kinetic effects when modeling gas uptake in narrow pore zeolites where the gas diffusion is to some extent hindered. For a more detailed investigation of the gas molecules’ pore-to-pore dynamics in the material, we present a procedure to compute the free energy barriers of diffusion using spatially constrained ab initio Molecular Dynamics. With this procedure, we seek to identify diffusion rate determining local properties of the Zeolite NaKA pores, including the Na+-to-K+ exchange at different ion sites and the presence of additional CO2 molecules in the pores. This energy barrier information is then used as input for the Kinetic Monte Carlo method, allowing us to simulate and compare these and other effects on the diffusion driven uptake using a realistic powder particle model on macroscopic timescales. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

Cette thèse concerne l’analyse et le développement de schémas d’intégration numérique de la Dynamique des Particules Dissipatives. Une présentation et une analyse de convergence faible de schémas existants est présentée, suivie d’une présentation et d’une analyse similaire de deux nouveaux schémas d’intégration facilement parallélisables. Une analyse des propriétés de conservation d’énergie de tous ces schémas est effectuée suivie d’une étude comparative de leurs biais sur l’estimation des valeurs moyennes d’observables physiques pour des systèmes à l’équilibre. Les schémas sont ensuite testés sur des systèmes choqués de fluides DPDE, où l’on montre que nos deux nouveaux schémas apportent une amélioration dans la précision de la description du comportement de tels systèmes par rapport aux schémas facilement parallélisables existants.Finalement, nous présentons une tentative d’accélération d’un schéma d’intégration de référence s’appliquant aux simulations séquentielles de la DPDE / This thesis is about the development and analysis of numerical schemes forthe integration of the Dissipative Particle Dynamics with Energy conservation. A presentation and a weak convergence analysis of existing schemes is performed, as well as the introduction and a similar analysis of two new straightforwardly parallelizable schemes. The energy preservation properties of all these schemes are studied followed by a comparative study of their biases on the estimation of the average values of physical observables on equilibrium simulations. The schemes are then tested on shock simulations of DPDE fluids, where we show that our schemes bring an improvement on the accuracy of the description of the behavior of such systems compared to existing straightforwardly parallelizable schemes. Finally, we present an attempt at accelerating a reference DPDE integration scheme on sequential simulations

<p>A first-principles theory of plasticity in metals currently does not exist. While many plasticity models make reference to rules based on heuristic arguments regarding dislocations (the fundamental mediators of plastic deformation in crystals), the scientific community still does not have a theory of dislocation dynamics which can recover even basic features of plasticity theory. Discrete dislocation dynamics, though a valuable tool for understanding fundamentals topics in dislocation plasticity, becomes unusable beyond ~1.5\% strain due to the line length multiplication inherent in deformation. As a result, it is necessary to develop continuum theories of dislocation dynamics which treat dislocation densities rather than individual dislocations. This thesis examines the foundations of one such continuum theory: line bundle continuum dislocation dynamics, which assumes that dislocations are roughly parallel at every point. First, this assumption is given definite meaning and it is shown from discrete dislocation dynamics data that to be appropriate when modelling dislocation densities on fine length scales (resolving densities on lengths less than 100 nm). Second, it is found that an additional driving force, the correlation stress, emerges from coarse-graining the line bundle dynamics. This correction to the dislocation interactions is dependent on tensorial dislocation correlation functions describing the short-range errors in the products of dislocation densities lying on two slip systems. The full set of these dislocation correlation functions are evaluated from discrete density data with the aid of a novel left-and-right handed classification of slip system interactions in FCC crystals. Lastly, a study of the correlation stress in a representative dislocation system suggests that these stresses are roughly one tenth the magnitude of the mean-field dislocation interaction stress. Taken together, this thesis bridges discrete and continuum models of dislocation dynamics and provides a foundation for future work on a first-principles theory of metal plasticity. </p>