Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society (APS)
Résumé : International audience
Diffusion in natural and engineered media is quantified in terms of stochastic models for the heterogeneity-induced fluctuations of particle motion. However, fundamental properties such as ergodicity and self-averaging and their dependence on the disorder distribution are often not known. Here, we investigate these questions for diffusion in quenched disordered media characterized by spatially varying retardation properties, which account for particle retention due to physical or chemical interactions with the medium. We link self-averaging and ergodicity to the disorder sampling efficiency Rn, which quantifies the number of disorder realizations a noise ensemble may sample in a single disorder realization. Diffusion for disorder scenarios characterized by a finite mean transition time is ergodic and self-averaging for any dimension. The strength of the sample to sample fluctuations decreases with increasing spatial dimension. For an infinite mean transition time, particle motion is weakly ergodicity breaking in any dimension because single particles cannot sample the heterogeneity spectrum in finite time. However, even though the noise ensemble is not representative of the single-particle time statistics, subdiffusive motion in q≥2 dimensions is self-averaging, which means that the noise ensemble in a single realization samples a representative part of the heterogeneity spectrum.
ISSN: 2470-0053

hal-01622668
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01622668
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01622668v2/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01622668/file/russian2017.pdf
DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevE.96.022156

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society
Résumé : We study the equilibrium properties of a liquid phase condensed at the nanoscale between the surfaces of a sharp crack in fused silica in a moist controlled atmosphere. The extension of the condensed phase along the fracture is measured by in situ atomic force microscopy phase imaging and it is shown to be determined by a critical distance between the opposite crack surfaces, which is an increasing function of humidity. The present technique is very promising for measuring the properties of confined liquids at the nanoscale as well as for modeling the physics and chemistry of slow crack propagation in glasses.
ISSN: 0031-9007

hal-00411946
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411946
DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.165505

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society
Résumé : International audience
This is the first of two papers investigating the mechanical response of cemented granular materials by means of contact dynamics simulations. In this paper, a two-dimensional polydisperse sample with high-void ratio is constructed and then sheared in a simple shear numerical device at different confinement levels. We study the macroscopic response of the material in terms of mean and deviatoric stresses and strains. We show that the introduction of a local force scale, i.e., the tensile strength of the cemented bonds, causes the material to behave in a rigid-plastic fashion, so that a yield surface can be easily determined. This yield surface has a concave-down shape in the mean: deviatoric stress plane and it approaches a straight line, i.e., a Coulomb strength envelope, in the limit of a very dense granular material. Beyond yielding, the cemented structure gradually degrades until the material eventually behaves as a cohesionless granular material. Strain localization is also investigated, showing that the strains concentrate in a shear band whose thickness increases with the confining stress. The void ratio inside the shear band at the steady state is shown to be a material property that depends only on contact parameters.
ISSN: 1539-3755

hal-00523453
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00523453
DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevE.82.011303

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society
Résumé : International audience
This is the second of two papers investigating the mechanical response of cemented granular materials by means of contact dynamics simulations. In this paper, a two-dimensional polydisperse sample with high void ratio is sheared in a load-controlled simple shear numerical device until the stress state of the sample reaches the yield stress. We first study the stress transmission properties of the granular material in terms of the fabric of different subsets of contacts characterized by the magnitude of their normal forces. This analysis highlights the existence of a peculiar force carrying structure in the cemented material, which is reminiscent of the bimodal stress transmission reported for cohesionless granular media. Then, the evolution of contact forces and torques is investigated trying to identify the micromechanical conditions that trigger macroscopic yielding. It is shown that global failure can be associated to the apparition of a group of particles whose contacts fulfill at least one of the local rupture conditions. In particular, these particles form a large region that percolates through the sample at the moment of failure, evidencing the relationship between macroscopic yielding and the emergence of large-scale correlations in the system.
ISSN: 1539-3755

hal-00523451
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00523451
DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevE.82.011304

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society
Résumé : International audience
We investigate a class of granular materials characterized by the possibility of interlocking between the particles. The interlocking is modeled by its effect through rolling resistance depending on relative rotation and normal force at the contact points and involving a single parameter analogous to the sliding friction coefficient. The model, which is introduced in the framework of the contact dynamics, method, is applied to simulate the simple shear of a large granular sample. We present a detailed analysis regarding the influence of rolling and sliding friction parameters on the macroscopic response in terms of shear strength, fabric properties, and force transmission. Interestingly, two distinct regimes can be distinguished in which the steady-state shear strength is controlled by either rolling resistance or sliding friction. The relative contributions of rolling and sliding contacts to the shear strength are consistent with the same two regimes. Interlocking strongly affects the force network by enhancing the arching effect and thus increasing the relative importance of weak contact forces and torques, which is reflected in a decreasing power-law probability distribution of the contact forces and torques below the mean. Due to the combined effect of friction and interlocking, the force-carrying backbone takes an increasingly columnar aspect involving a low fraction of particles. Our data suggest that the nature of the weak contact network is strongly affected by the formation of these columns of particles which do not need to be propped laterally. In particular, in the limit of high rolling resistance and sliding friction, the role of the weak network of contacts is no longer to prop the force chains, but, like the strong contact network, to actively sustain the deviatoric load imposed on the system.
ISSN: 1539-3755

hal-00412020
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00412020
DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevE.78.021301

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society
Résumé : International audience
Absolute M-shell x-ray production cross sections have been measured and calculated for Au and Bi for electron incident energies from close to the ionization threshold up to 38 keV. The experimental cross sections were deduced from M alpha x-ray intensities emitted from ultrathin Au and Bi samples deposited on self-supporting C films. The measurements were performed on an electron microprobe using several wavelength-dispersive spectrometers. The x-ray production cross sections were also evaluated theoretically using ionization cross sections calculated from the plane-wave and the distorted-wave Born approximations. Experimental results are compared with the calculated cross sections and also with the results of two analytical formulas widely used in many applications. Good agreement is found between the measured cross sections and the predictions from the distorted-wave Born approximation, which indicates that this approximation is suited for the calculation of M-shell ionization cross sections of heavy elements.
ISSN: 1050-2947

hal-00411432
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411432
DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevA.78.022704

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society
Résumé : International audience
Using contact dynamics simulations, we compare the effect of rolling resistance at the contacts in granular systems composed of disks with the effect of angularity in granular systems composed of regular polygonal particles. In simple shear conditions, we consider four aspects of the mechanical behavior of these systems in the steady state: shear strength, solid fraction, force and fabric anisotropies, and probability distribution of contact forces. Our main finding is that, based on the energy dissipation associated with relative rotation between two particles in contact, the effect of rolling resistance can explicitly be identified with that of the number of sides in a regular polygonal particle. This finding supports the use of rolling resistance as a shape parameter accounting for particle angularity and shows unambiguously that one of the main influencing factors behind the mechanical behavior of granular systems composed of noncircular particles is the partial hindrance of rotations as a result of angular particle shape.
ISSN: 1539-3755

hal-00594891
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00594891
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00594891/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00594891/file/Estrada2010ReSubmitV2.pdf
ARXIV : 1105.4418

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society
Résumé : 1 tex, 16 figures
International audience
We make use of a subtraction procedure, introduced to overcome double--counting problems in beyond--mean--field theories, in the second random--phase--approximation (SRPA) for the first time. This procedure guarantees the stability of SRPA (so that all excitation energies are real). We show that the method fits perfectly into nuclear density--functional theory. We illustrate applications to the monopole and quadrupole response and to low--lying $0^+$ and $2^+$ states in the nucleus $^{16}$O. We show that the subtraction procedure leads to: (i) results that are weakly cutoff dependent; (ii) a considerable reduction of the SRPA downwards shift with respect to the random--phase approximation (RPA) spectra (systematically found in all previous applications). This implementation of the SRPA model will allow a reliable analysis of the effects of 2 particle--2 hole configurations ($2p2h$) on the excitation spectra of medium--mass and heavy nuclei.
ISSN: 0556-2813

in2p3-01193119
http://hal.in2p3.fr/in2p3-01193119
DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevC.92.034303
ARXIV : 1506.05975

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Physical Society
Résumé : International audience
It is getting increasingly evident that physical properties such as elastoviscoplastic properties of living materials are quite important for the process of tissue development, including regulation of genetic pathways. Measuring such properties in vivo is a complicated and challenging task. In this paper, we present an instrument, a scanning air puff tonometer, which is able to map point by point the viscoelastic properties of flat or gently curved soft materials. This instrument is an improved version of the air puff tonometer used by optometrists, with important modifications. The instrument allows one to obtain a direct insight into gradients of material properties in vivo. The instrument capabilities are demonstrated on substances with known elastoviscoplastic properties and several biological objects. On the basis of the results obtained, the role of the gradients of elastoviscoplastic properties is outlined for the process of angiogenesis, limb development, bacterial colonies expansion, etc. which is important for bridging the gaps in the theory of the tissue development and highlighting new possibilities for tissue engineering, based on a clarification of the role of physical features in developing biological material.
ISSN: 1539-3755

hal-00666187
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00666187
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00666187/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00666187/file/FLEURY_PRE_2010.pdf
DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevE.81.021920