Applicability and non-applicability of equilibrium statistical mechanics to non-thermal damage phenomena

This paper investigates the applicability of classical, Gibbs-Boltzmann statistical mechanics to the phenomenon of non-thermal damage. As an example, a non-thermal fiber-bundle model with the global uniform (mean field) load sharing is considered. Stochastic topological behavior in the system is described in terms of an effective temperature parameter that thermalizes the system. An equation of state and a topological analogue of the energy-balance equation are obtained. The formalism of the free energy potential is developed, and the nature of the first-order phase transition and spinodal is demonstrated.