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Phase field modeling of anisotropic fracture

  • S.I. : Non-Classical Cont Mech
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Abstract

The main aim of the current study is to explore direction-dependent fracture initiation and propagation within an arbitrary anisotropic solid. In particular, the specific objective is to develop an anisotropic cohesive phase-field (PF) fracture model. In this model, weak and strong anisotropy is considered both in the strain energy and fracture energy. This is achieved by considering contributions to strain energy of fiber and matrix as in the case of fiber-reinforced composites (FRC) together with introducing anisotropy in fracture energy through higher-order structural tensors. Motivated from earlier works of Van den Bosch et al. (Eng Fract Mech 73:1220–1234, 2006), the PF fracture model is integrated with a coupled exponential cohesive zone law which considers both normal and tangential components of separation. Such a cohesive PF description has a strong micromechanical basis for fracture, requiring interface fracture toughness and ultimate traction in normal and tangential directions. \(C^0\) and \(C^1\) approximations are used for modeling the weak and strong anisotropy. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the model developed herein. The obtained numerical results are validated with the experimental results from the literature. The anisotropic fracture resulting in either intergranular or transgranular failure of polycrystalline material is analyzed by adopting a coupled anisotropic phase field and cohesive zone approach.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Prof. Arun Srinivasa, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A &M University, College Station, Texas, USA for his valuable insights and timely discussions which helped to improve the manuscript. The last author (JNR) also acknowledges the support through a research grant from US Army ERDC, contract W912HZ19C0042.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India

    D. Pranavi & A. Rajagopal

  2. Texas A &M University, College Station, Texas, USA

    J. N. Reddy

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  1. D. Pranavi
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Correspondence to A. Rajagopal.

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Pranavi, D., Rajagopal, A. & Reddy, J.N. Phase field modeling of anisotropic fracture. Continuum Mech. Thermodyn. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00161-023-01260-6

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