QUANTUM-CLASSICAL CALCULATIONS OF THE NANOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS

Molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations constitute an important tool in the study of nanoscale metallic systems, especially so in the face of the difficulties plaguing their experimental analysis. Main limitations of the MD method stem from the empirical nature of the potentials employed, their functio...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: JACEK DZIEDZIC
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Gdańsk University of Technology 2009-07-01
Series:TASK Quarterly
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journal.mostwiedzy.pl/TASKQuarterly/article/view/2014
_version_ 1817984376852447232
author JACEK DZIEDZIC
author_facet JACEK DZIEDZIC
author_sort JACEK DZIEDZIC
collection DOAJ
description Molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations constitute an important tool in the study of nanoscale metallic systems, especially so in the face of the difficulties plaguing their experimental analysis. Main limitations of the MD method stem from the empirical nature of the potentials employed, their functional form which is postulated ad hoc, and its classical nature. The neglect of electronic effects and the unjustified utilization of the potential for system configurations significantly different from those, for which the potential was parametrized makes the results of strictly classical calculations dubious, at least for a certain class of systems. On the other hand, high computational complexity of quantum-based methods, where atomic interactions are described ab initio, prohibits their direct use in the study of systems larger than several tens of atoms. In the last decade, a growing popularity of so-called hybrid (or cross-scaling) methods can be observed, that is, methods which treat the most “interesting” part of the system with a quantum-based approach, while the remainder is treated classically. Physically sound handshaking between the two methodologies (quantum and classical) within a single simulation constitutes a serious challenge, the majority of difficulties concentrating around the interface between the fragments of the system treated with the two methods. The aforementioned interface is most easily constructed for covalently bonded systems, where the bonds cut by the isolation of the quantumbased region can be saturated by the introduction of specially crafted link-atoms. In metallic systems, however, due to electronic delocalization, this traditional approach cannot be employed. This paper describes a physically sound and adequately efficient computational technique, which allows for the inclusion of results of locally employed quantum-based computations within a molecular-dynamics simulation, for systems described by the many-body Sutton-Chen (SC) potential, used in the study of fcc metals. The proposed technique was developed taking as a point of departure the Learn-on-the-Fly (LOTF) formalism, a recent development itself. The original LOTF approach is only suitable for two- or three-body potentials and is serial in nature, whereas the proposed technique can be used with many-body potentials and is parallel-ready. An implementation of the proposed approach in the form of computer code, which allows for parallel hybrid computations for metallic systems is also described. Finally, results from a set of hybrid simulations of nanoindentation of a copper workmaterial with a hard indenter utilizing the aforementoned technique and computer code is presented, as evidence of its viability.
first_indexed 2024-04-13T23:43:52Z
format Article
id doaj.art-d68ba4f114b44df0a11db014b9bfc314
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1428-6394
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-13T23:43:52Z
publishDate 2009-07-01
publisher Gdańsk University of Technology
record_format Article
series TASK Quarterly
spelling doaj.art-d68ba4f114b44df0a11db014b9bfc3142022-12-22T02:24:24ZengGdańsk University of TechnologyTASK Quarterly1428-63942009-07-01133QUANTUM-CLASSICAL CALCULATIONS OF THE NANOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF METALSJACEK DZIEDZIC0Gdansk University of Technology, Department of Solid State Physics Molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations constitute an important tool in the study of nanoscale metallic systems, especially so in the face of the difficulties plaguing their experimental analysis. Main limitations of the MD method stem from the empirical nature of the potentials employed, their functional form which is postulated ad hoc, and its classical nature. The neglect of electronic effects and the unjustified utilization of the potential for system configurations significantly different from those, for which the potential was parametrized makes the results of strictly classical calculations dubious, at least for a certain class of systems. On the other hand, high computational complexity of quantum-based methods, where atomic interactions are described ab initio, prohibits their direct use in the study of systems larger than several tens of atoms. In the last decade, a growing popularity of so-called hybrid (or cross-scaling) methods can be observed, that is, methods which treat the most “interesting” part of the system with a quantum-based approach, while the remainder is treated classically. Physically sound handshaking between the two methodologies (quantum and classical) within a single simulation constitutes a serious challenge, the majority of difficulties concentrating around the interface between the fragments of the system treated with the two methods. The aforementioned interface is most easily constructed for covalently bonded systems, where the bonds cut by the isolation of the quantumbased region can be saturated by the introduction of specially crafted link-atoms. In metallic systems, however, due to electronic delocalization, this traditional approach cannot be employed. This paper describes a physically sound and adequately efficient computational technique, which allows for the inclusion of results of locally employed quantum-based computations within a molecular-dynamics simulation, for systems described by the many-body Sutton-Chen (SC) potential, used in the study of fcc metals. The proposed technique was developed taking as a point of departure the Learn-on-the-Fly (LOTF) formalism, a recent development itself. The original LOTF approach is only suitable for two- or three-body potentials and is serial in nature, whereas the proposed technique can be used with many-body potentials and is parallel-ready. An implementation of the proposed approach in the form of computer code, which allows for parallel hybrid computations for metallic systems is also described. Finally, results from a set of hybrid simulations of nanoindentation of a copper workmaterial with a hard indenter utilizing the aforementoned technique and computer code is presented, as evidence of its viability. https://journal.mostwiedzy.pl/TASKQuarterly/article/view/2014hybrid methodscross-scalingmolecular-dynamicstight-bindinglearn-on-the-flynanoscale
spellingShingle JACEK DZIEDZIC
QUANTUM-CLASSICAL CALCULATIONS OF THE NANOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS
TASK Quarterly
hybrid methods
cross-scaling
molecular-dynamics
tight-binding
learn-on-the-fly
nanoscale
title QUANTUM-CLASSICAL CALCULATIONS OF THE NANOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS
title_full QUANTUM-CLASSICAL CALCULATIONS OF THE NANOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS
title_fullStr QUANTUM-CLASSICAL CALCULATIONS OF THE NANOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS
title_full_unstemmed QUANTUM-CLASSICAL CALCULATIONS OF THE NANOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS
title_short QUANTUM-CLASSICAL CALCULATIONS OF THE NANOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF METALS
title_sort quantum classical calculations of the nanomechanical properties of metals
topic hybrid methods
cross-scaling
molecular-dynamics
tight-binding
learn-on-the-fly
nanoscale
url https://journal.mostwiedzy.pl/TASKQuarterly/article/view/2014
work_keys_str_mv AT jacekdziedzic quantumclassicalcalculationsofthenanomechanicalpropertiesofmetals