Smulation of fracture in a homogenized continuum

摘要

Material fracture is usually characterized by a well defined geometrical failure pattern which defines an orientational preference for the degradation of the material strength and/or the material stiffness. This geometrical information is used to formulate a two-level simulation technique: the constitutive relationships are defined with respect to a generic plane of degradation (POD) and all material parameters which characterize the fracture process are defined with respect to the POD. The orientation of the POD will be uniquely defined and subsequently utilized to implement the transition between the POD and the three-dimensional continuum. The obtained constitutive model is thus able to predict the fracture induced anisotropy of the material. The differences to the corresponding isotropic version of the model are shown to be significant. Furthermore, this enhanced predictive capability is achieved without calling for additional material parameters, since the anisortopy is described purely by geometrical evolutions.