Variable horizon in a peridynamic medium.

Abstract

A notion of material homogeneity is proposed for peridynamic bodies with vari- able horizon but constant bulk properties. A relation is derived that scales the force state according to the position-dependent horizon while keeping the bulk properties un- changed. Using this scaling relation, if the horizon depends on position, artifacts called ghost forces may arise in a body under homogeneous deformation. These artifacts de- pend on the second derivative of horizon and can be reduced by use of a modified equilibrium equation using a new quantity called the partial stress . Bodies with piece- wise constant horizon can be modeled without ghost forces by using a technique called a splice between the regions. As a limiting case of zero horizon, both partial stress and splice techniques can be used to achieve local-nonlocal coupling. Computational examples, including dynamic fracture in a one-dimensional model with local-nonlocal coupling, illustrate the methods.