Describing the macroscopic behavior of surfaces based on atomistic models

Abstract

This work describes the modeling of interface and surface materials. A novel multiscale framework determines continuum material properties of free surfaces on the macroscale based on molecular dynamics simulations. A key aspect is the derivation of a thermodynamically consistent homogenization approach by the principle of energy minimization. The parameters describing the energy on the macroscale are determined from the comparison with the corresponding energy on the atomistic scale. In addition, this Ritz-homogenization approach is enlarged to thermoelastic materials. Afterwards, the work focuses on the continuum mechanically surface modeling and a strong coupling between bulk and surface physics. To be more precise, the surface deformation is directly determined from the underlying three-dimensional bulk deformation. Therefore, two approaches of the surface deformation are implemented. Finally, a numerical implementation of both approaches in a finite-element framework is derived.