Dislocation-dynamics method

Dislocation-Dynamics (DD) technique is identified as the method able to model the evolution of material plastic properties as a function of the microstructural transformation predicted at the atomic scale. Indeed, it is the only simulation method capable of taking into account the collective behaviour of a large number of dislocations inside a realistic microstructure. DD simulations are based on the elastic dislocation theory following rules inherent to the dislocation core structure often call 'local rules'. All the data necessary to establish the local rules for DD have to come directly from experiment or alternatively from simulations carried out at the atomic scale such as molecular dynamics or ab initio calculations. However, no precise information on the interaction between two dislocations or between dislocations and defects induced by irradiation are available for nuclear fuels. Therefore, in this article the DD technique will be presented and some examples are given of what can be achieved with it. (author)