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Structural, thermodynamic and elastic properties of the hydrogen-zirconium system including all major hydrides are studied from first principles. Interstitial hydrogen atoms occupy preferentially tetrahedral sites. The calculations show that a single vacancy in α-Zr can trap up to nine hydrogen atoms. Self-interstitial Zr atoms attract hydrogen to a lesser extent. Accumulation of hydrogen atoms near self-interstitials may become a nucleation site for hydrides. By including the temperature-dependent terms of the free energy based on ab initio calculations, hydrogen adsorption isotherms are computed and shown to be in good agreement with experimental data. The solubility of hydrogen decreases in Zr under compressive strain. The volume dependence on hydrogen concentration is similar for hydrogen in solution and in hydrides. The bulk modulus increases with hydrogen concentration from 96 to 132 GPa.

An ab initio based approach to determine energies and structures for semicoherent interfaces is developed and applied to the Fe(001)/VN(001) system. To account for elastic displacements resulting from the lattice misfit, we compare an atomistic approach using a model potential (embedded-atom method) with a continuum approach using the Peierls-Nabarro model. The total interface energy of the atomistic modeling is found to be well reproduced by the Peierls-Nabarro model, demonstrating that accurate interface energies of semicoherent interfaces can be obtained by combining first principles for the chemical part of the energy and a Peierls-Nabarro model to account for the elasticity of the media.