Application of Damage Mechanics for Prediction of Failure of Structural Materials and Elements

Abstract

The article deals with the practical application of damage mechanics for modelling and predicting the failure of materials and structural elements. One of the recently developed and used models of Bai–Wierzbicki material is discussed in more detail. In this model the effect of hydrostatic pressure and the third invariant of the deviatoric stress on the process of the material plastic deformation is taken into account. It allows to model damage processes in the material and predict its total failure with high accuracy. Consequently, this enables the practical application in engineering calculations of structural elements. As an example, several such analyses were presented and discussed. They included the simulations of tensile elements made of C45E+N steel under proportional and non‐ proportional loading conditions in uniaxial and spatial stress state. Another analysis considered numerical simulations of the ductile fracture in Battelle Drop-Weight- Tear (BDWT) specimens used in pipeline sections tests. The problem concerned the phenomenon of block shear failure in bolted steel connections was the subject of the last presented simulations.