A CONTROL-VOLUME TECHNIQUE FOR COMPUTING CONTINUUM DEFORMATION MEASURES IN DISCRETE POLYMERIC SYSTEMS

A new control volume formulation is presented which allows the calcula tion of continuum measures of deformation in simulations of discrete s ystems. While the technique is quite general, it is especially effecti ve for systems where some degree of spatial correlation in the motion of the structural elements is expected. The method is applied to a mod el of amorphous polymer network deformation and used to illustrate how the nucleation and development of a flow structure can be observed in discrete systems. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.