Damage evolution in ductile materials: from micro- to macro-damage

摘要

This research presents a new simulation concept of damage evolution for metallic materials under large displacements and deformations. The complete damage range is subdivided into both the micro-damage and the macro-damage range. The micro-damage phase is described by the Cocks/Ashby void-growth model for isotropic, ductile materials under isothermal conditions. After having reached a critical void-volume fraction, a macro-crack is introduced into the model. With such a concept the damage evolution from nucleation and growth of first micro-voids to initiation of macro-cracks and complete failure of the material can be simulated. Applying the Finite Element Method for the numerical formulation, at every incremental macro-crack step the Finite Element mesh is adapted such that the crack path remains independent of the initial mesh.