The problem of estimating the parameters which determine a mixture density has been the subject of a large, diverse body of literature spanning nearly ninety years. During the last two decades, the...

Mixture densities, maximum likelihood, and the EM algorithm

The flow of homogeneous fluids through porous media: analogies with other physical problems

Boundary Value Problems in Physics and Engineering By Frank Chorlton. Pp. 250. (Van Nostrand: London, July 1969.) 70s

Boundary value problems

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Two related works: Osler's "Aequanimitas" and Bernard's "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine".

Phase-field models, sometimes referred to as gradient damage or smeared crack models, are widely used methods for the numerical simulation of crack propagation in brittle materials. Theoretical results and numerical evidences show that they can predict the propagation of a pre-existing crack according to Griffith’ criterion. For a one-dimensional problem, it has been shown that they can predict nucleation upon a critical stress, provided that the regularization parameter be identified with the material’s internal or characteristic length. In this article, we draw on numerical simulations to study crack nucleation in commonly encountered geometries for which closed-form solutions are not available. We use U- and V-notches to show that the nucleation load varies smoothly from that predicted by a strength criterion to that of a toughness criterion when the strength of the stress concentration or singularity varies. We present validation and verification numerical simulations for both types of geometries. We consider the problem of an elliptic cavity in an infinite or elongated domain to show that variational phase field models properly account for structural and material size effects. Our main claim, supported by validation and verification in a broad range of materials and geometries, is that crack nucleation can be accurately predicted by minimization of a nonlinear energy in variational phase field models, and does not require the introduction of ad-hoc criteria.

Crack nucleation in variational phase-field models of brittle fracture

This paper is the first part of an extended program to develop a theory of fracture in the context of strain-limiting theories of elasticity. This program exploits a novel approach to modeling the mechanical response of elastic, that is non-dissipative, materials through implicit constitutive relations. The particular class of models studied here can also be viewed as arising from an explicit theory in which the displacement gradient is specified to be a nonlinear function of stress. This modeling construct generalizes the classical Cauchy and Green theories of elasticity which are included as special cases. It was conjectured that special forms of these implicit theories that limit strains to physically realistic maximum levels even for arbitrarily large stresses would be ideal for modeling fracture by offering a modeling paradigm that avoids the crack-tip strain singularities characteristic of classical fracture theories. The simplest fracture setting in which to explore this conjecture is anti-plane shear. It is demonstrated herein that for a specific choice of strain-limiting elasticity theory, crack-tip strains do indeed remain bounded. Moreover, the theory predicts a bounded stress field in the neighborhood of a crack-tip and a cusp-shaped opening displacement. The results confirm the conjecture that use of a strain limiting explicit theory in which the displacement gradient is given as a function of stress for modeling the bulk constitutive behavior obviates the necessity of introducing ad hoc modeling constructs such as crack-tip cohesive or process zones in order to correct the unphysical stress and strain singularities predicted by classical linear elastic fracture mechanics.

Modeling fracture in the context of a strain-limiting theory of elasticity: a single anti-plane shear crack

We provide sufficient conditions for strong ellipticity for a general class of anisotropic hyperelastic materials. This general class includes as a subclass transversely isotropic materials. Our sufficient conditions require that the first partial derivatives of the reduced-stored energy function satisfy some simple inequalities and that the second partial derivatives satisfy a convexity condition. We also characterize a restricted type of strong ellipticity for a subclass of transversely isotropic materials undergoing pure homogeneous deformations. We apply our results to a model of soft tissue from the biomechanics literature.

Sufficient conditions for strong ellipticity for a class of anisotropic materials

We construct a mathematical model of the early formation of an atherosclerotic lesion based on a simplification of Russell Ross' paradigm of atherosclerosis as a chronic inflammatory response. Atherosclerosis is a disease characterized by the accumulation of lipid-laden cells in the arterial wall. This disease results in lesions within the artery that may grow into the lumen restricting blood flow and, in critical cases, can rupture causing complete, sudden occlusion of the artery resulting in heart attack, stroke and possibly death. It is now understood that when chemically modified low-density lipoproteins (LDL cholesterol) enter into the wall of the human artery, they can trigger an immune response mediated by biochemical signals sent and received by immune and other cells indigenous to the vasculature. The presence of modified LDL can also corrupt the normal immune function triggering further immune response and ultimately chronic inflammation. In the construction of our mathematical model, we focus on the inflammatory component of the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Because this study centres on the interplay between chemical and cellular species in the human artery and bloodstream, we employ a model of chemotaxis first given by E. F. Keller and Lee Segel in 1970 and present our model as a coupled system of non-linear reaction diffusion equations describing the state of the various species involved in the disease process. We perform numerical simulations demonstrating that our model captures certain observed features of CVD such as the localization of immune cells, the build-up of lipids and debris and the isolation of a lesion by smooth muscle cells.

A mathematical model of atherogenesis as an inflammatory response.

A study of dynamic crack growth in elastic materials using a cohesive zone model

During the last three decades, the theory of nonlinear elasticity has been used extensively to model biological soft issues. Although this research has generated many different models to describe t...

Jay R. Walton

Papers

Modeling fracture in the context of a strain-limiting theory of elasticity: a single anti-plane shear crack

Sufficient conditions for strong ellipticity for a class of anisotropic materials

A mathematical model of atherogenesis as an inflammatory response.

A study of dynamic crack growth in elastic materials using a cohesive zone model

The Convexity Properties of a Class of Constitutive Models for Biological Soft Issues