Local yield stress statistics in model amorphous solids.

We develop and extend a method presented by Patinet, Vandembroucq, and Falk [Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 045501 (2016)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.117.045501] to compute the local yield stresses at the atomic scale in model two-dimensional Lennard-Jones glasses produced via differing quench protocols. This technique allows us to sample the plastic rearrangements in a nonperturbative manner for different loading directions on a well-controlled length scale. Plastic activity upon shearing correlates strongly with the locations of low yield stresses in the quenched states. This correlation is higher in more structurally relaxed systems. The distribution of local yield stresses is also shown to strongly depend on the quench protocol: the more relaxed the glass, the higher the local plastic thresholds. Analysis of the magnitude of local plastic relaxations reveals that stress drops follow exponential distributions, justifying the hypothesis of an average characteristic amplitude often conjectured in mesoscopic or continuum models. The amplitude of the local plastic rearrangements increases on average with the yield stress, regardless of the system preparation. The local yield stress varies with the shear orientation tested and strongly correlates with the plastic rearrangement locations when the system is sheared correspondingly. It is thus argued that plastic rearrangements are the consequence of shear transformation zones encoded in the glass structure that possess weak slip planes along different orientations. Finally, we justify the length scale employed in this work and extract the yield threshold statistics as a function of the size of the probing zones. This method makes it possible to derive physically grounded models of plasticity for amorphous materials by directly revealing the relevant details of the shear transformation zones that mediate this process.

Finite-element lattice Boltzmann simulations of contact line dynamics.

The lattice Boltzmann method has become one of the standard techniques for simulating a wide range of fluid flows. However, the intrinsic coupling of momentum and space discretization restricts the traditional lattice Boltzmann method to regular lattices. Alternative off-lattice Boltzmann schemes exist for both single- and multiphase flows that decouple the velocity discretization from the underlying spatial grid. The current study extends the applicability of these off-lattice methods by introducing a finite element formulation that enables simulating contact line dynamics for partially wetting fluids. This work exemplifies the implementation of the scheme and furthermore presents benchmark experiments that show the scheme reduces spurious currents at the liquid-vapor interface by at least two orders of magnitude compared to a nodal implementation and allows for predicting the equilibrium states accurately in the range of moderate contact angles.

Model study of the pressure build-up during subcutaneous injection.

In this study we estimate the subcutaneous tissue counter pressure during drug infusion from a series of injections of insulin in type 2 diabetic patients using a non-invasive method. We construct a model for the pressure evolution in subcutaneous tissue based on mass continuity and the flow laws of a porous medium. For equivalent injection forces we measure the change in the infusion rate between injections in air at atmospheric pressure and in tissue. From a best fit with our model, we then determine the flow permeability as well as the bulk modulus of the tissue, estimated to be of the order 10-11-10-10 m2 and 105 Pa, respectively. The permeability is in good agreement with reported values for adipose porcine tissue. We suggest our model as a general way to estimate the pressure build-up in tissue during subcutaneous injection.