Related papers: A free discontinuity model for smectic thin films
Crystalline defects, such as line-like dislocations, play an important role for the performance and reliability of many metallic devices. Their interaction and evolution still poses a multitude of open questions to materials science and…
We prove a threshold phenomenon for the existence/non-existence of energy minimizing solitary solutions of the diffraction management equation for strictly positive and zero average diffraction. Our methods allow for a large class of…
In the context of finite elasticity, we propose plate models describing the spontaneous bending of nematic elastomer thin films due to variations along the thickness of the nematic order parameters. Reduced energy functionals are deduced…
This doctoral thesis is devoted to the analysis of some minimization problems that involve nonlocal functionals. We are mainly concerned with the $s$-fractional perimeter and its minimizers, the $s$-minimal sets. We investigate the behavior…
A vast array of phenomena, ranging from chemical reactions to phase transformations, are analysed in terms of a free energy surface defined with respect to a single or multiple order parameters. Enhanced sampling methods are typically used,…
We present a simple viscous theory of free-surface flows in boundary layers, which can accommodate regions of separated flow. In particular this yields the structure of stationary hydraulic jumps, both in their circular and linear versions,…
Topological defects play an important role in physics of elastic media and liquid crystals. Their kinematics is determined by constraints of topological origin. An example is the glide motion of dislocations which has been extensively…
We propose and analyze a simple variational model for dislocations at semi-coherent interfaces. The energy functional describes the competition between two terms: a surface energy induced by dislocations that compensate the lattice misfit…
It is known from both experiments and molecular dynamics simulations that chemically patterning a solid surface has an effect on the flow of an adjacent liquid. This fact is in stark contrast with predictions of classical fluid mechanics…
A consistent, small scale description of plastic motion in a crystalline solid is presented based on a phase field description. By allowing for independent mass motion given by the phase field, and lattice distortion, the solid can remain…
Dislocation based modeling of plasticity is one of the central challenges at the crossover of materials science and continuum mechanics. Developing a continuum theory of dislocations requires the solution of two long standing problems: (i)…
In Part I of this set of two papers, a model of mesoscopic plasticity is developed for studying initial-boundary value problems of small scale plasticity. Here we make qualitative, finite element method-based computational predictions of…
An equilibrium phase diagram for the shape of compressively strained free-hanging films is developed by total strain energy minimization. For small strain gradients {\Delta}{\epsilon}, the film wrinkles, while for sufficiently large…
In this work, we use the standard deviation of image pixel intensity to analyse the speed, direction and surface-interaction of microparticles in fluid. First, we present an analytical model for estimating the total variance in the image…
In this paper we analyze a two-dimensional discrete model of nearest-neighbour Lennard-Jones interactions under the microscopical constraint that points on a lattice triangle maintain their order. This can be understood as a microscopical…
We study continuity, and lack thereof, of thermodynamical properties for one-dimensional dynamical systems. Under quite general hypotheses, the free energy is shown to be almost upper-semicontinuous: some normalised component of a limit…
Thin films, bubbles and membranes are central to numerous natural and engineering processes, i.e., in thin-film solar cells, coatings, biosensors, electrowetting displays, foams, and emulsions. Yet, the characterization and an adequate…
A model for a MEMS device, consisting of a fixed bottom plate and an elastic plate, is studied. It was derived in a previous work as a reinforced limit when the thickness of the insulating layer covering the bottom plate tends to zero. This…
The continuum model related to the Winterbottom problem, i.e., the problem of determining the equilibrium shape of crystalline drops resting on a substrate, is derived in dimension two by means of a rigorous discrete-to-continuum passage by…
The effect of rigid surfaces on the dynamics of thin liquid films which are amenable to the lubrication approximation is considered. It is shown that the Helfrich energy of the layer gives rise to additional terms in the time-evolution…