An Analysis of the Quasi-Nonlocal Quasicontinuum Approximation of the Embedded Atom Model

Abstract

The quasi-nonlocal quasicontinuum method (QNL) is a consistent hybrid coupling method for atomistic and continuum models. Embedded atom models are empirical many-body potentials that are widely used for FCC metals such as copper and aluminum. In this paper, we consider the QNL method for EAM potentials, and we give a stability and error analysis for a chain with next-nearest neighbor interactions. We identify conditions for the pair potential, electron density function, and embedding function so that the lattice stability of the atomistic and the EAM-QNL models are asymptotically equal.