Local Approach to Damage and Fracture Analysis

Abstract

Continuum damage mechanics facilitates not only the modeling of crack initiation due to damage development but also the analysis of the damage and fracture process up to the final fracture. The local approach to fracture by means of continuum damage mechanics and finite element method has developed as a systematic engineering method to analyze the whole process of damage and fracture. At the end of this book, we consider the notion, applicability and the fundamental issues of this approach. Section 11.1 is concerned with its procedure, applicability and the related numerical problems. In Section 11.2, the material instability and the resulting loss of uniqueness will be discussed as the major causes of the mesh-sensitivity in time-independent (rate-independent) strain-softening materials.