On Coupling of Interface and Phase-field Damage Models for Quasi-brittle Fracture

Abstract

Numerical simulations of crack initiation and propagation is presented. Both, interface and material cracks are modelled within the damage theory introducing two independent damage parameters. The interface cracks appearing in an adhesive layer of a contact zone between structural components consider cohesive zone models with general stress-strain relationships implemented in an energetic formulation. Accordingly, the fracture of bulk domains also includes variational consideration and leads to phase-field damage which causes a very narrow band of defected material constituting the actual crack. The proposed computational approach has a variational form, the solution being approximated by a time stepping procedure, a finite element code, and quadratic programming algorithms.