This simulation mirrors and agrees with the results of an experiment done at Brown University, Shawki says. It is a model for a Kolsky bar experiment, which involves applying a torque at a high rate to a thin-walled tube. Daniel Cancro, an undergraduate intern at NCSA on leave from the University of Notre Dame, wrote the AVS module to interpret the data. The video shows a solid block, subject to continued shearing, that appears to break into two rigid blocks. A small colored band between the blocks represents the localized zone.
Color designates where significant temperature increases occur.
As it deforms, it generates heat, and that heat contributes to further softening, and the cycle continues, leading to further localization. With recent advances involving the energy characterizations, it appears that the kinetic energy is a potential candidate for the characterization of localization. The current study only considers one spatial dimension. The current 1D simulation already takes 3 million timesteps. Since teraflop computers are expected to be available by the mid-1990s, such hurdles will not remain insurmountable for long.