Numerical analyses of brittle crack growth experiments in compression using a modified phase-field theory

Abstract

There has been a huge interest in recent years in using phase-field theories for numerical analyses of fracture phenomena. However, in phase-field fracture theories, a critical aspect often involves a decomposition of the strain energy density to select physically trustworthy crack paths and to prevent interpenetration of crack surfaces. This aspect becomes even more critical in the case of mixed-mode loading under compression. To overcome these challenges, a hydrostatic-spectral-deviatoric decomposition, enhanced by separate critical energy release rates for different fracture modes, is employed in this study. In order to evaluate the enhanced decomposition strategy, a set of biaxially loaded crack experiments in global compression is designed. Samples of different geometries contain multiple flaws and holes. The experiments are numerically simulated using a unified set of material parameters and three different strain energy decomposition methods (i.e., hydrostatic-spectral-deviatoric, spectral and hydrostatic–deviatoric). Simulations using the hydrostatic-spectral-deviatoric decomposition scheme capture both intricate crack paths and critical loads in the experiments. The enhanced decomposition strategy seems capable of simulating the experiments with reasonable precision, in sharp contrast to the two commonly used decomposition strategies (spectral and hydrostatic–deviatoric).