An approach to constitutive modelling of elasto-plasticity via ensemble averaging of the dislocation transport

Using an averaging procedure for large ensembles of dislocations, a basic but mathematically non-trivial modelling framework is developed for the transport of dislocation densities in a macroscopically homogeneous and isotropic film of a crystalline solid subjected to uniform shear. It has the form of a system of nonlinear, non-local partial differential equations of the first order with a source-type right-hand side. The solution to this system is studied numerically, and the associated average stress is evaluated as a function of time. The resulting stress-strain relations exhibit a size effect similar to those that previously motivated strain-gradient plasticity theories.