Mean field theory of yielding under oscillatory shear

Abstract

We study a mean field elastoplastic model, embedded within a disordered landscape of local yield barriers, to shed light on the behaviour of athermal amorphous solids subject to oscillatory shear. We show that the model presents a genuine dynamical transition between an elastic and a yielded state, and qualitatively reproduces the dependence on the initial degree of annealing found in particle simulations. For initial conditions prepared below the analytically derived threshold energy, we observe a non-trivial, non-monotonic approach to the yielded state. The timescale diverges as one approaches the yielding point from above, which we identify with the fatigue limit. We finally discuss the connections to brittle yielding under uniform shear.