Abstract
A statistical damage theory is developed from the combination of Continuum Damage Mechanics (CDM), nonequilibrium statistical physics and fracture mechanics. The evolution process of microdefects, which is stochastic in nature due to the inhomogeneous microstructure of materials, is considered as the elementary process of damage to material structure. The accumulation damage, i.e. the damage variable, is universally defined as the failure probability of the material resulting from the evolution of microdefects. From the statistical evolution equation of microdefects, derived from nonequilibrium statistical theory and the weakest link theory, a new partial differential equation which universally describes the evolution of damage is found. This equation not only characterises the irreversible kinetic process of damage evolution, but also establishes the direct relationship between the micromechanism of damage evolution, e.g. initiation, growth and fluctuation of microdefects, and the degradation of material properties.
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