Stability of Cohesive Crack Model: Part II—Eigenvalue Analysis of Size Effect on Strength and Ductility of Structures

1995 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 965-969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. P. Bazˇant ◽  
Yuan-Neng Li

The preceding paper is extended to the analysis of size effect on strength and ductility of structures. For the case of geometrically similar structures of different sizes, the criterion of stability limit is transformed to an eigenvalue problem for a homogeneous Fredholm integral equation, with the structure size as the eigenvalue. Under the assumption of a linear softening stress-displacement relation for the cohesive crack, the eigenvalue problem is linear. The maximum load of structure under load control, as well as the maximum deflection under displacement control (which characterizes ductility of the structure), can be solved explicitly in terms of the eigenfunction of the aforementioned integral equation.

2009 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia-Liang Le ◽  
Zdeněk P. Bažant ◽  
Qiang Yu

The effect of the size of hybrid metal-composite joint on its nominal strength, experimentally demonstrated in the preceding paper (part I), is modeled mathematically. Fracture initiation from a reentrant corner at the interface of a metallic bar and a fiber composite laminate sheet is analyzed. The fracture process zone (or cohesive zone) at the corner is approximated as an equivalent sharp crack according to the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). The asymptotic singular stress and displacement fields surrounding the corner tip and the tip of an interface crack emanating from the corner tip are calculated by means of complex potentials. The singularity exponents of both fields are generally complex. Since the real part of the stress singularity exponent for the corner tip is not −12, as required for finiteness of the energy flux into the tip, the interface crack propagation criterion is based on the singular field of the interface crack considered to be embedded in a more remote singular near-tip field of the corner from which, in turn, the boundaries are remote. The large-size asymptotic size effect on the nominal strength of the hybrid joint is derived from the LEFM considering the interface crack length to be much smaller than the structure size. The deviation from LEFM due to finiteness of the interface crack length, along with the small-size asymptotic condition of quasiplastic strength, allows an approximate general size effect law for hybrid joints to be derived via asymptotic matching. This law fits closely the experimental results reported in the preceding paper. Numerical validation according to the cohesive crack model is relegated to a forthcoming paper.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 3573
Author(s):  
Hu Chen ◽  
Y. X. Zhang ◽  
Linpei Zhu ◽  
Fei Xiong ◽  
Jing Liu ◽  
...  

Numerical simulations of the fracture process are challenging, and the discrete element (DE) method is an effective means to model fracture problems. The DE model comprises the DE connective model and DE contact model, where the former is used for the representation of isotropic solids before cracks initiate, while the latter is employed to represent particulate materials after cracks propagate. In this paper, a DE particle-based cohesive crack model is developed to model the mixed-mode fracture process of brittle materials, aiming to simulate the material transition from a solid phase to a particulate phase. Because of the particle characteristics of the DE connective model, the cohesive crack model is constructed at inter-particle bonds in the connective stage of the model at a microscale. A potential formulation is adopted by the cohesive zone method, and a linear softening relation is employed by the traction–separation law upon fracture initiation. This particle-based cohesive crack model bridges the microscopic gap between the connective model and the contact model and, thus, is suitable to describe the material separation process from solids to particulates. The proposed model is validated by a number of standard fracture tests, and numerical results are found to be in good agreement with the analytical solutions. A notched concrete beam subjected to an impact loading is modeled, and the impact force obtained from the numerical modeling agrees better with the experimental result than that obtained from the finite element method.


1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (6S) ◽  
pp. S91-S96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zdeneˇk P. Bazˇant ◽  
Yuan-Neng Li

The cohesive (or ficticious) crack model, characterized by softening stress-displacement relations, provides a good description of fracture of quasibrittle materials such as conrete, rock, or tough ceramics. The cohesive crack model is formulated in terms of compliance influence functions and the failure is analyzed as a stability problem. The size effect is determined by means of an eigenvalue problem. In this problem, the structure size for which a given relative crack length yields the maximum load is the eigenvalue. The model is further generalized to time dependence. The opening displacement is considered as a function of the cohesive stress and the opening rate of the crack. Finally, applications to rock and concrete are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 215 ◽  
pp. 193-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Carloni ◽  
Gianluca Cusatis ◽  
Marco Salviato ◽  
Jia-Liang Le ◽  
Christian G. Hoover ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 1134-1141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zdeněk Bažant ◽  
Peter Grassl

Because the observed size effect follows neither the strength theory nor the linear elastic fracture mechanics, the delamination fracture of laminate-foam sandwiches under uniform bending moment is treated by the cohesive crack model. Both two-dimensional geometrically nonlinear finite element analysis and one-dimensional representation of skin (or facesheet) as a beam on elastic-softening foundation are used. The use of the latter is made possible by realizing that the effective elastic foundation stiffness depends on the ratio of the critical wavelength of periodic skin wrinkles to the foam core thickness, and a simple description of the transition from shortwave to longwave wrinkling is obtained by asymptotic matching. Good agreement between both approaches is achieved. Skin imperfections (considered proportional to the the first eigenmode of wrinkling), are shown to lead to strong size dependence of the nominal strength. For large imperfections, the strength reduction due to size effect can reach 50%. Dents from impact, though not the same as imperfections, might be expected to cause as a similar size effect. Using proper dimensionless variables, numerical simulations of cohesive delamination fracture covering the entire practical range are performed. Their fitting, heeding the shortwave and longwave asymptotics, leads to an approximate imperfection-dependent size effect law of asymptotic matching type. Strong size effect on postpeak energy absorption, important for impact analysis, is also demonstrated. Finally, discrepancies among various existing formulas for critical stress at periodic elastic wrinkling are explained by their applicability to different special cases in the shortwave-longwave transition.


10.14311/608 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (5-6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. P. Bažant ◽  
Q. Yu

Presented is a concise summary of recent Northwestern University studies of six new problems. First, the decrease of fracture energy during crack propagation through a boundary layer, documented by Hu and Wittmann, is shown to be captured by a cohesive crack model in which the softening tail slope depends on the distance from the boundary (which causes an apparent size effect on fracture energy and implies that the nonlocal damage model is more fundamental than the cohesive crack model). Second, an improved universal size effect law giving a smooth transition between failures at large cracks (or notches) and at crack initiation is presented. Third, a recent renewed proposal that the nominal strength variation as a function of notch depth be used for measuring fracture energy is critically examined. Fourth, numerical results and a formula describing the size effect of finite-angle notches are presented. Fifth, a new size effect law derivation from dimensional analysis coupled with asymptotic matching is given. Finally, an improved code-type formula for shear capacity of R.C. beams is proposed. 


2013 ◽  
Vol 80 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Yu ◽  
Zdeněk P. Bažant ◽  
Jia-Liang Le

The size effect in the failure of a hybrid adhesive joint of a metal with a fiber-polymer composite, which has been experimentally demonstrated and analytically formulated in preceding two papers, is here investigated numerically. Cohesive finite elements with a mixed-mode fracture criterion are adopted to model the adhesive layer in the metal-composite interface. A linear traction-separation softening law is assumed to describe the damage evolution at debonding in the adhesive layer. The results of simulations agree with the previously measured load-displacement curves of geometrically similar hybrid joints of various sizes, with the size ratio of 1:4:12. The effective size of the fracture process zone is identified from the numerically simulated cohesive stress profile at the peak load. The fracture energy previously identified analytically by fitting the experimentally observed size effect curves agrees well with the fracture energy of the cohesive crack model obtained numerically by optimal fitting of the test data.


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