shear banding

Abstract: Shear banding is widely observed in natural fault zones as well as in laboratory experiments on granular materials. Understanding the dynamics of strain localization under different loading conditions is essential for quantifying strength evolution of fault gouge and energy partitioning during earthquakes and characterizing rheological transitions and fault zone structure changes. To that end, we develop a physics-based continuum model for strain localization in sheared granular materials.

This study investigates the influence of physical aging on the deformation behaviors of poly(ethylene terephthalate)-glycol. The polymers are subjected to a quenched and an annealed heat treatment, followed by deformation in tension. The digital image correlation (DIC) is used to capture the surface strain. The DIC results show that the deformation localization occurs in the post-yield strain softening region. The quenched and annealed polymers exhibit different localization types, representing as necking for quenched polymers and shear banding for annealed polymers.

A new postdoctoral position in the mechanics of glassy/amorphous materials is
available at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The project will focus on
strongly non-linear phenomena such as cavitation, shear-banding and fracture,
with applications to Bulk Metallic Glasses, and will involve advanced