Second European Conference on Computational Mechanics (ECCM)
Cracow, Poland, 26-29 June 2001

MODELS FOR QUASIBRITTLE FAILURE:

THEORETICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL ASPECTS

Milan Jirásek and Borek Patzák

Abstract

This paper deals with various aspects of the computational analysis of strain localization and failure in quasibrittle materials. It gives a general overview of three main classes of modeling approaches:
  1. models with propagating cohesive displacement discontinuities;
  2. softening continuum models with partial regularization by the fracture energy approach; and
  3. fully regularized softening continuum models.
For the second class of models, the effect of mesh-induced directional bias is demonstrated and the importance of crack-induced anisotropy and of a clean resolution of a stress-free crack is discussed. For the third class of models, a mesh-adaptive technique based on an error indicator combined with a simple error estimator is briefly described and illustrated by an example. As an alternative to the usual h-refinement, an extended finite element method (X-FEM) is outlined.

The full paper can be downloaded in PostScript format or in PDF format.

EPFL / 15 June 2001 / milan.jirasek@epfl.ch