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Stefano Zapperi

Publications and source records attributed to Stefano Zapperi.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Crack surface roughness in three-dimensional random fuse networks.

Using large system sizes with extensive statistical sampling, we analyze the scaling properties of crack roughness and damage profiles in the three-dimensional random fuse model. The analysis of damage profiles indicates that damage accumulates in a diffusive manner up to the peak load, and localization sets in abruptly at the peak load, starting from a uniform damage landscape. The global crack width scales as W approximately L(0.5) and is consistent with the scaling of localization length xi approximately L(0.5) used in the data collapse of damage profiles in the postpeak regime. This consistency between the global crack roughness exponent and the postpeak damage profile localization length supports the idea that the postpeak damage profile is predominantly due to the localization produced by the catastrophic failure, which at the same time results in the formation of the final crack. Finally, the crack width distributions can be collapsed for different system sizes and follow a log-normal distribution.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Statistical properties of fracture in a random spring model.

Using large-scale numerical simulations, we analyze the statistical properties of fracture in the two-dimensional random spring model and compare it with its scalar counterpart: the random fuse model. We first consider the process of crack localization measuring the evolution of damage as the external load is raised. We find that, as in the fuse model, damage is initially uniform and localizes at peak load. Scaling laws for the damage density, fracture strength, and avalanche distributions follow with slight variations the behavior observed in the random fuse model. We thus conclude that scalar models provide a faithful representation of the fracture properties of disordered systems.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Crack roughness and avalanche precursors in the random fuse model.

We analyze the scaling of the crack roughness and of avalanche precursors in the two-dimensional random fuse model by numerical simulations, employing large system sizes and extensive sample averaging. We find that the crack roughness exhibits anomalous scaling, as recently observed in experiments. The roughness exponents (zeta, zeta(loc) ) and the global width distributions are found to be universal with respect to the lattice geometry. Failure is preceded by avalanche precursors whose distribution follows a power law up to a cutoff size. While the characteristic avalanche size scales as s(0) approximately L(D) , with a universal fractal dimension D , the distribution exponent tau differs slightly for triangular and diamond lattices and, in both cases, it is larger than the mean-field (fiber bundle) value tau=5/2 .

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Growth of a vortex polycrystal in type II superconductors.

We discuss the formation of a vortex polycrystal in type II superconductors from the competition between pinning and elastic forces. We compute the elastic energy of a deformed grain boundary, which is strongly nonlocal, and obtain the depinning stress for weak and strong pinning. Our estimates for the grain size dependence on the magnetic field strength are in good agreement with previous experiments on NbMo. Finally, we discuss the effect of thermal noise on grain growth.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Phase transitions in a disordered system in and out of equilibrium.

The equilibrium and nonequilibrium disorder-induced phase transitions are compared in the random-field Ising model. We identify in the demagnetized state the correct nonequilibrium hysteretic counterpart of the T=0 ground state, and present evidence of universality. Numerical simulations in d=3 indicate that exponents and scaling functions coincide, while the location of the critical point differs, as corroborated by exact results for the Bethe lattice. These results are of relevance for optimization, and for the generic question of universality in the presence of disorder.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Tearing transition and plastic flow in superconducting thin films.

A new class of artificial atoms, such as synthetic nanocrystals or vortices in superconductors, naturally self-assemble into ordered arrays. This property makes them applicable to the design of novel solids, and devices whose properties often depend on the response of such assemblies to the action of external forces. Here we study the transport properties of a vortex array in the Corbino disk geometry by numerical simulations. In response to an injected current in the superconductor, the global resistance associated to vortex motion exhibits sharp jumps at two threshold current values. The first corresponds to a tearing transition from rigid rotation to plastic flow, due to the reiterative nucleation around the disk centre of neutral dislocation pairs that unbind and glide across the entire disk. After the second jump, we observe a smoother plastic phase proceeding from the coherent glide of a larger number of dislocations arranged into radial grain boundaries.

Electric Conductivity↗
PubMed2002

Dislocation jamming and andrade creep.

We simulate the glide motion of an assembly of interacting dislocations under the action of an external shear stress and show that the associated plastic creep relaxation follows Andrade's law. Our results indicate that Andrade creep in plastically deforming crystals involves the correlated motion of dislocation structures near a dynamic transition separating a flowing from a jammed phase. Simulations in the presence of dislocation multiplication and noise confirm the robustness of this finding and highlight the importance of metastable structure formation for the relaxation process.

Journal Article↗