Dislocation Dynamics for Plasticity Boundary Value Problems

Plastic deformation of crystalline metals mainly takes place by the nucleation and motion of dislocations, line defects in the atomic lattice. At a length scales of micrometers, dislocations can conveniently be idealized as discrete line defects in an elastic continuum and plastic deformation can be represented by the evolution of the dislocation structure. This mesoscopic description is commonly referred to as discrete dislocation plasticity. The focus in the present article is on the solution of initial/boundary value problems using discrete dislocation plasticity. A brief summary of the underlying dislocation dynamics is given, methods used to describe plasticity in terms of evolving dislocation structures are described, some results are presented that illustrate unique capabilities of discrete dislocation plasticity, and needs as well as opportunities for future development are indicated.