The present study proposes a new computer simulation model of stochastic fracture process in degrading materials caused by multiple intergranular cracks. The procedures are constructed based on the fracture mechanics as well as the invasion percolation theory, simulating the behavior of multiple intergranular cracks, which are initiated on artificial grain boundaries and grow mainly along the boundaries to cause sudden fracture. Surrounding degradation on grain boundaries sometimes accelerates and sometimes decelerates the growth of the cracks. The resultant 2-D color maps visualize stochastic fracture process of degrading materials on a computer. The maximum crack length vs.number of loops diagrams show jumping growth of cracks due to coalescence. Such discontinuous behavior of cracks can be often observed in real fatigue fracture process of metallic materials under corrosive and/or high-temperature environments. The results obtained in this study indicate the applicability of the present method to the quasi-quantitative evaluation of damage degrading materials are to suffer.
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