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In the context of fracture simulations of polymers, the molecular mechanisms in the vicinity of the crack tip are of particular interest. Nevertheless, to keep the computational cost to a minimum, a coarser resolution must be used in the remaining regions of the numerical sample. For the specific case of amorphous polymers, the Capriccio method bridges the gap between the length and time scales involved at the different levels of resolution by concurrently coupling molecular dynamics (MD) with the finite element method (FEM). Within the scope of the Capriccio approach, the coupling to the molecular MD region introduces non-periodic, so-called stochastic boundary conditions (SBC). In similarity to typical simulations under periodic boundary conditions (PBC), the SBC MD simulations must reach an equilibrium state before mechanical loads are exerted on the coupled systems. In this contribution, we hence extensively study the equilibration properties of non-periodic MD samples using the Capriccio method. We demonstrate that the relaxation behavior of an MD-FE coupled MD domain utilizing non-periodic boundary conditions is rather insensitive to the specific coupling parameters of the method chosen to implement the boundary conditions. The behavior of an exemplary system equilibrated with the parameter set considered as optimal is further studied under uniaxial tension and we observe some peculiarities in view of creep and relaxation phenomena. This raises important questions to be addressed in the further development of the Capriccio method.

In this contribution, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in combination with continuum mechanical (CM) approaches are performed to investigate particle movements under uniaxial deformations of an amorphous polymer at particle resolution. A coarse-grained (CG) model of atactic polystyrene is used as an exemplary model system. We propose a hybrid molecular dynamics-continuum mechanical (MD-CM) approach to simulate the deformation behavior of the polymer. As a reference, purely molecular dynamics systems are used. The methods are compared with regard to the local displacement of the particles and the global stress-strain behavior of the overall system. The good reproducibility of the system's mechanical behavior with the hybrid molecular dynamics-continuum mechanical method is shown. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that CPU time can be significantly reduced with the hybrid calculation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this contribution, we present a characterization methodology to obtain pseudo experimental deformation data from CG MD simulations of polymers as an inevitable prerequisite to choose and calibrate continuum mechanical constitutive laws. Without restriction of generality, we employ a well established CG model of atactic polystyrene as exemplary model system and simulate its mechanical behavior under various uniaxial tension and compression load cases. To demonstrate the applicability of the obtained data, we exemplarily calibrate a viscoelastic continuum mechanical constitutive law. We conclude our contribution by a thorough discussion of the findings obtained in the numerical pseudo experiments and give an outline of subsequent research activities. Thus, this work contributes to the field of multiscale simulation methods and adds a specific application to the body of knowledge of CG MD simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]