A DAMAGE MODEL FOR MULTIPHASE COMPOSITES AND ITS VERIFICATION

Abstract

 A new damage model for the simulation of crack growth in mutiphase composite materials is presented. The characteristic of the proposed model is a formulation based on the theoretical solution of 1D elastic bar problem, which allows us to evaluate the damage of matrix phase in multiphase composites using finite element meshes generated independently of material interfaces. Our study begins with the formulation of the damage model in 1D problem, and extends it to the formulation for 2D and 3D problems by using an equivalent strain and stress. Fracture problems of two-phase composites in 1D and 2D are solved to verify the validity of the proposed damage model, and the results are compared to reference solutions. The model is then applied to the simulation of 3D crack growth in heterogeneous material with a large number of spherical inclusions.