We investigate some mechanisms of the response, including fracture, of block geomedia to nonequiaxial compression in shear by the movable cellular automaton method. For a characteristic of the degree of nonequiaxiality it is proposed to use a dimensionless parameter which, according to calculations, is efficiently applicable to determine the deformation mode of a medium under constrained shear conditions. It is shown that increasing the compressive stress in the shear direction shortens the stage of quasiplastic deformation of a geomedium and decreases its shear strength. This is because mesoscale mechanisms of interblock discontinuity assume a leading part in the deformation and fracture of the geomedium with increasing the degree of constraint. The effect shows up, among other things, as an increase in effective dilatation rate of the shear zone due to the change of lower-scale deformation mechanisms for mechanisms of higher structural levels.

The paper studies the mechanical properties and configuration of plastic zones in notched high-strength structural steel under tension. Quantitative analysis of the plastic zones is made by constructing strain intensity distribution patterns with the use of the television-optical measuring complex TOMSC. Fracture associated with plastic flow is analyzed by comparing fractographs and distributions of strain characteristics. It is found that the fracture originates in a region with maximum strain intensity. It is shown that the mechanisms of plastic flow in high-strength steel specimens with P 1.58 and P 4.65, where P is the index of initial stress stiffness, differ considerably. It is demonstrated that the high-strength steel specimens are fractured by quasibrittle mechanisms; however, ductile micromechanisms through pore nucleation and growth remain operative at all stages of fracture.

A comparative analysis has been performed of mesoscale stress and strain distributions in sections of 3D polycrystalline specimens and in their 2D cousins under plane strain and plane stress conditions. For similar macroscale stress-strain curves, the mesoscale plastic strain localization patterns are shown to differ essentially both qualitatively and quantitatively in 2D and 3D models. In other words, the same effective mechanical response of the materials can be provided by different mesoscale stress and strain distributions depending on the loading technique used and geometric features of the specimens (thin plates, thick specimens, etc.).

In the work, the dispersion of metal specimens on high-rate heating was studied at the microlevel. The calculations were performed in the framework of the molecular dynamics method with the use of many-body interatomic potentials. It is shown that the electrothermal pulse dispersion has a pronounced stage character. It is pointed out that the processes responsible for evaporation and collision of clusters are much more intense than those of precipitation. Study into the effect of the thermal loading intensity on the dispersion dynamics shows that increasing the heating temperature causes a decrease in the average size of clusters and an increase in their number.

Localized plastic strain evolution stages in notched aluminum AA 2024 alloy tension specimens have been investigated. Integral calculations of the microscale strain have employed acoustic emission data. The mesoscale strain has been studied by calculating the normalized integral equivalent shear strain from television-optical data. To gain insight into the special features of the macroscale strain, the time derivative of the applied loading has been examined. Early in the loading process, acoustic emission is shown to respond best to deformation and fracture. This makes it possible to reveal a transition from stage I to stage II in the evolution of localized strain where the mesoscale level comes to dominate over the macroscale one. At high strains, the digital image correlation method provides a consistent characterization of the predominance of the mesoscale level. The results of the investigations under review point to the fact that an analysis of localized plastic strain stages is an effective means of interpreting the data on the evolution of plastic flow at different scale levels.

Рассмотрены вопросы разработки и использования базы данных по физико-химическим свойствам нефти, созданной в ИНституте химии нефти СО РАН. Обсуждаются структура базы данных и вопросы отобраажения информации на цифровых картах. Представлены некоторые результаты анализа свойства тяжелых, высоковязких высокосмолистых и высокопарафинистых нефтей из разных нефтегазоносных бассейнов мира, полученные с использованием базы данных.