Theory-based Benchmarking of the Blended Force-Based Quasicontinuum Method

Abstract

We formulate an atomistic-to-continuum coupling method based on blending atomistic and continuum forces. Our precise choice of blending mechanism is informed by theoretical predictions. We present a range of numerical experiments studying the accuracy of the scheme, focusing in particular on its stability. These experiments confirm and extend the theoretical predictions, and demonstrate a superior accuracy of B-QCF over energy-based blending schemes.