Continuous and discontinuous modeling of failure for quasi-brittle materials in mode I and mixed mode.
Continuum damage mechanics, Quasi-brittle materials, G/XFEM, Cohesive zone model, Park-Paulino-Roesler cohesive law
This work formulated and implemented continuous and discontinuous approaches to predict failures in quasi-brittle materials for mode I and mixed (I+II) fracture behavior: a three-dimensional isotropic damage approach based on the thermodynamics of irreversible processes, and an approach that combines the advantages of Cohesive Zone Model by the extrinsic Park-Paulino-Roesler law and Generalized Finite Element Method. The damage evolution laws are based only in physical parameters from fracture mechanics, which can be obtained through fracture and resistance tests without the need of further calibration. The Park-Paulino-Roesler law can be applied for various types of fracture modes. Both approaches were tested and validated by comparison with a several benchmark problems in mode I and mixed mode conditions from the literature. The comparison showed the efficiency and accuracy of the approaches to predict the tensile strength and the entire loaddisplacement curves of the experiments for various levels of mesh refinement, including very coarse meshes. The result of this research is two robust approaches capable to simulate complex fracture behavior of quasi-brittle materials.