Mesoscale Fracture Analysis of Solids Containing a Number of Voids by Using Natural Element Method

Abstract

The mesoscale simulation method using natural element method is proposed for the examination of ligament localization and void linking during ductile fracture. The plastic deformation and fracture behavior of aluminum sheet containing random array of equi-sized holes is simulated in both uniaxial and equal-biaxial tension to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. The numerical results agree with the experimental results qualitatively and quantitatively. Simulation results show that void linking is caused by flow localization within the ligaments between neighboring holes.