Local momentum and heat fluxes in transient transport processes and inhomogeneous systems

Constitutive relations for polar continua based on statistical mechanics and spatial averaging

The purpose of the current work is the formulation of macroscopic constitutive relations, and in particular continuum flux densities, for polar continua from the underlying mass point dynamics. To this end, generic microscopic continuum field and balance relations are derived from phase space transport relations for expectation values of point fields related to additive mass point quantities. Given these, microscopic energy, linear momentum and angular momentum, balance relations are obtained in the context of the split of system forces into non-conservative and conservative parts. In addition, divergence–flux relations are formulated for the conservative part of microscopic supply-rate densities. For the case of angular momentum, two such relations are obtained. One of these is force-based, and the other is torque-based. With the help of physical and material theoretic restrictions (e.g. material frame-indifference), reduced forms of the conservative flux densities are obtained. In the last part of the work, formulation of macroscopic constitutive relations from their microscopic counterparts is investigated in the context of different spatial averaging approaches. In particular, these include (weighted) volume-averaging based on a localization function, surface averaging of normal flux densities based on Cauchy flux theory and volume averaging with respect to centre of mass.

On the equivalence of the two foundational formulations for atomistic flux in inhomogeneous transport processes

Although there are numerous formulae for atomic-level fluxes, they are expressed either in terms of a singlet density, resulting from Irving and Kirkwood's statistical mechanics formulation of hydrodynamical equations, or a pair density, proposed in kinetic theories of transport processes. Flux formulae using singlet density have been further developed and widely implemented in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations by either replacing the Dirac delta with a volumetric averaging function or performing a surface average of the flux operators. Pair density-based flux formulae have also been further developed by using spatial-averaging kernels; these formulae, however, have rarely been implemented or used in modern MD. In this work, distributional calculus is used to reformulate the fluxes in momentum and energy transport processes. The formulation results demonstrate that these two types of existing flux formulae are mathematically equivalent when expressed with the Dirac delta. The lasting confusion regarding these two different types of flux formulae from two different formalisms is thus resolved.

Asymmetry of the atomic-level stress tensor in homogeneous and inhomogeneous materials

The stress tensor is described as a symmetric tensor in all classical continuum mechanics theories and in most existing statistical mechanics formulations. In this work, we examine the theoretical origins of the symmetry of the stress tensor and identify the assumptions and misinterpretations that lead to its symmetric property. We then make a direct measurement of the stress tensor in molecular dynamics simulations of four different material systems using the physical definition of stress as force per unit area acting on surface elements. Simulation results demonstrate that the stress tensor is asymmetric near dislocation cores, phase boundaries, holes and even in homogeneous material under a shear loading. In addition, the atomic virial stress and Hardy stress formulae are shown to significantly underestimate the stress tensor in regions of stress concentration.