Self-adaptive molecule/cluster statistical thermodynamics method for quasi-static deformation at finite temperature

Hybrid molecule/cluster statistical thermodynamics (HMCST) method is an efficient tool to simulate nano-scale systems under quasi-static loading at finite temperature. In this paper, a self-adaptive algorithm is developed for this method. Explicit refinement criterion based on the gradient of slip shear deformation and a switching criterion based on generalized Einstein approximation is proposed respectively. Results show that this self-adaptive method can accurately find clusters to be refined or transferred to molecules, and efficiently refine or transfer the clusters. Furthermore, compared with fully atomistic simulation, the high computational efficiency of the self-adaptive method appears very attractive.