Strong discontinuities and continuum plasticity models: the strong discontinuity approach

The paper presents the Strong Discontinuity Approach for the analysis and simulation of strong discontinuities in solids using continuum plasticity models. Kinematics of weak and strong discontinuities are discussed, and a regularized kinematic state of discontinuity is proposed as a mean to model the formation of a strong discontinuity as the collapsed state of a weak discontinuity (with a characteristic bandwidth) induced by a bifurcation of the stress–strain field, which propagates in the solid domain. The analysis of the conditions to induce the bifurcation provides a critical value for the bandwidth at the onset of the weak discontinuity and the direction of propagation. Then a variable bandwidth model is proposed to characterize the transition between the weak and strong discontinuity regimes. Several aspects related to the continuum and, their associated, discrete constitutive equations, the expended power in the formation of the discontinuity and relevant computational details related to the finite element simulations are also discussed. Finally, some representative numerical simulations are shown to illustrate the proposed approach.     

Regularizing Piecewise Smooth Differential Systems: Co-Dimension 2 Discontinuity Surface

In this paper, we are concerned with numerical solution of piecewise smooth initial value problems. Of specific interest is the case when the discontinuities occur on a smooth manifold of co-dimension 2, intersection of two co-dimension 1 singularity surfaces, and which is nodally attractive for nearby dynamics. In this case of a co-dimension 2 attracting sliding surface, we will give some results relative to two prototypical time and space regularizations. We will show that, unlike the case of co-dimension 1 discontinuity surface, in the case of co-dimension 2 discontinuity surface the behavior of the regularized problems is strikingly different. On the one hand, the time regularization approach will not select a unique sliding mode on the discontinuity surface, thus maintaining the general ambiguity of how to select a Filippov vector field in this case. On the other hand, the proposed space regularization approach is not ambiguous, and there will always be a unique solution associated to the regularized vector field, which will remain close to the original co-dimension 2 surface. We will further clarify the limiting behavior (as the regularization parameter goes to 0) of the proposed space regularization to the solution associated to the sliding vector field of Dieci and Lopez (Numer Math 117:779–811, 2011). Numerical examples will be given to illustrate the different cases and to provide some preliminary exploration in the case of co-dimension 3 discontinuity surface.     

On Euler–Bernoulli discontinuous beam solutions via uniform-beam Green’s functions

The bending problem of Euler–Bernoulli discontinuous beams is dealt with. The purpose is to show that uniform-beam Green’s functions can be used to build efficient solutions for beams with internal discontinuities due to along-axis constraints and flexural-stiffness jumps. Specifically, upon deriving the equilibrium equation in the space of generalized functions, first it is seen that the original bending problem may be recast as linear superposition of a principal and an auxiliary bending problem, both involving a uniform reference beam and homogeneous boundary conditions. Then, based on the Green’s functions of the reference beam, closed-form solutions are developed for the principal beam response, while the auxiliary beam response is obtained by solving, in general, (r + 2s) algebraic equations written at the discontinuity locations, being r the number of discontinuities due to along-axis constraints, and s the number of flexural-stiffness jumps. In this manner, an appreciable reduction of computational effort is achieved as compared to alternative analytical solutions in the literature.     

Regularized variational theories of fracture: A unified approach

The fracture pattern in stressed bodies is defined through the minimization of a two-field pseudo-spatial-dependent functional, with a structure similar to that proposed by Bourdin-Francfort-Marigo (2000) as a regularized approximation of a parent free-discontinuity problem, but now considered as an autonomous model per se. Here, this formulation is altered by combining it with structured deformation theory, to model that when the material microstructure is loosened and damaged, peculiar inelastic (structured) deformations may occur in the representative volume element at the price of surface energy consumption. This approach unifies various theories of failure because, by simply varying the form of the class for admissible structured deformations, different-in-type responses can be captured, incorporating the idea of cleavage, deviatoric, combined cleavage-deviatoric and masonry-like fractures. Remarkably, this latter formulation rigorously avoid material overlapping in the cracked zones. The model is numerically implemented using a standard finite-element discretization and adopts an alternate minimization algorithm, adding an inequality constraint to impose crack irreversibility (fixed crack model). Numerical experiments for some paradigmatic examples are presented and compared for various possible versions of the model.     

Plastic Flow as an Energy Minimization Problem. Numerical Experiments

In this approach, the plastic part of the deformation field, traditionally described by regular mappings, is interpreted as localized yielding along flow surfaces, with a kinematics analogous to that of crack formation. The resulting deformation is structured, being composed of a bulk and a surface part, respectively due to the elastic distortion of massive material portions and to localized yielding. There is an energetic competition between these two contributions in the energy functional, whose minimization is sought under irreversibility conditions for the inelastic phenomena. Numerical experiments are performed with a regularized variational approach. Paradigmatic examples show that plastic strain concentrates in coarse bands, but the bands may coalesce to form a plastic region, depending upon the shape and size of the body, the presence of pre-existing defects (voids, holes, notches) and the values of the governing parameters.     

Dynamic steady crack growth in elastic-plastic solids—propagation of strong discontinuities

The near-tip field of a mode I crack growing steadily under plane strain conditions is studied. A key issue is whether strong discontinuities can propagate under dynamic conditions. Theories which impose rather restrictive assumptions on the structure of an admissible deformation path through a dynamically propagating discontinuity have been proposed recently. Asymptotic solutions for dynamic crack growth, based on such theories, do not contain any discontinuities. In the present work a broader family of deformation paths is considered and we show that a discontinuity can propagate dynamically without violating any of the mechanical constitutive relations of the material. The proposed theory for the propagation of strong discontinuities is corroborated by very detailed finite element calculations. The latter shows a plane of strong discontinuity emanating from the crack tip (with its normal pointing in the direction of crack advance) and moving with the tip. Elastic unloading ahead of and/or behind the plane of discontinuity and behind the crack tip have also been observed.The numerical investigation is performed within the framework of a boundary layer formulation whereby the remote loading is fully specified by the first two terms in the asymptotic solution of the elasto-dynamic crack tip field, characterized by K₁, and T. It is shown that the family of near-tip fields, associated with a given crack speed, can be arranged into a one-parameter field based on a characteristic length, L_g, which scales with the smallest dimension of the plastic zone. This extends a previous result for quasi-static crack growth.     

Bifurcations in granular media: macro- and micro-mechanics approaches

Various failure modes related to different kinds of bifurcations occur in nonassociated elastoplastic materials such as geomaterials. After presenting experimental evidence, we study this question by means of phenomenological constitutive relations and direct numerical simulations based on the discrete element method. The second-order work criterion related to diffuse failure modes is particularly considered within the framework of continuum and discrete mechanics. The equations of the bifurcation domain boundary and unstable stress direction cones are established. Diffuse failure is simulated numerically by perturbing bifurcation states. To cite this article: F. Darve et al., C. R. Mecanique 335 (2007).     

断裂力学判据的评述

从Inglis 和Griffith 的著名论文到Irwin 和Rice 等的奠基性贡献,对断裂力学中的线弹性断裂力学的K判据,界面断裂力学的G判据,和弹塑性断裂力学的J 判据作了扼要的综述. 介绍了在界面断裂力学G判据的基础上提出的界面断裂力学的K判据,以说明断裂力学的判据存在改进的可能性. 在综述中归纳出断裂力学判据中目前还没有较好解决的几个问题. 在总结以往断裂力学研究经验的基础上,指出裂纹端应力奇异性的源是对断裂力学判据存在的问题作进一步研究的切入点. 探讨了裂纹端应变间断的奇点是裂纹端应力奇异性的源的问题,从而对裂纹端应力强度因子的物理意义进行了讨论. 最后,阐述了进行可靠的裂纹端应力场的弹塑性分析是改进弹塑性断裂力学判据的关键,而进行可靠的裂纹端应力场的弹塑性分析的前提是要通过裂纹端应力奇异性的源的研究来获得作用在裂纹端的造成裂纹端应变间断的有限值应力.      

Eulerian formulation of transport equations for three-dimensional shock waves in simple elastic solids

The propagation of a three-dimensional shock wave in an elastic solid is studied. The material is assumed to be a simple elastic solid in which the Cauchy stress depends on the deformation gradient only. It is shown that the growth or decay of a discontinuity ψ depends on (i) an unknown quantity φ^? behind the shock wave, (ii) the two principal curvatures of the shock surface, (iii) the gradient on the shock surface of the shock wave speeds and (iv) the inhomogeneous term which depends on the motion ahead of the shock surface and vanishes when the motion ahead of the shock surface is uniform. If a proper choice is made of the propagation vectorb along which the growth or decay of the discontinuity is measured, the dependence on item (iii) can be avoided. However,b assumes different directions depending on the choice of discontinuity ψ with which one is concerned and the unknown quantity φ^? behind the shock wave on which one chooses to depend. As in the case of one-dimensional shock waves, the growth (or decay) of one discontinuity may not be accompanied by the growth (or decay) of other discontinuities. A universal equation relating the growth or decay of discontinuities in the normal stress, normal velocity and specific volume is also presented.     

Failure theory via the concept of material configurational forces associated with the M-integral

A new failure theory based on the material configuration forces associated with the invariant M-integral is proposed to describe the content and evolution of the multi-defects localized in the body. The physical interpretation of the global M-integral is as the sum of the local energy release rate due to the self-similar expansion for each specific defect. It does provide an effective measure for the evaluation of damage level. It is found that the unique parameter of the M-integral cannot be used as a unified failure criterion to predict the damage evolution and the final failure due to the major obstacle that the critical value of the M-integral is not a problem-invariant constant and shows an apparent defect configuration-dependence. Consequently, a new failure parameter referred as the configurational damage parameter (abbreviated as Π-parameter) is proposed by the appropriate formulation via the M-integral, the remote uni-axial load, and the inner variable of the damaged area. A series of numerical examples are carried out to demonstrate that the critical value of Π-parameter is a material constant regardless of defect configurations. Furthermore, it is performed to validate the applicability of the Π-parameter as a failure criterion to predict the final failure of the locally damaged materials. Finally, a protocol of experimental measurement of the Π-parameter is proposed by method of digital image correlation to facilitate the wide application of the new failure criterion. It is concluded that the present failure theory via the configurational forces associated with the M-integral provides some outside variable features and has the advantage of predicting the structural integrity of damaged materials containing the locally distributed defects.     

Micromechanics based second gradient continuum theory for shear band modeling in cohesive granular materials following damage elasticity

Gradient theories, as a regularized continuum mechanics approach, have found wide applications for modeling strain localization failure process. This paper presents a second gradient stress–strain damage elasticity theory based upon the method of virtual power. The theory considers the strain gradient and its conjugated double stresses. Instead of introducing an intrinsic material length scale into the constitutive law in an ad hoc fashion, a microstructural granular mechanics approach is applied to derive the higher-order constitutive coefficients such that the internal length scale parameter reflects the natural granularity of the underlying material microstructure. The derivations of the required damage constitutive relationships, the strong form governing equations as well as its weak form for the second gradient model are described. The recently popularized Element-Free Galerkin (EFG) method is then employed to discretize the weak form equilibrium equation for accommodating the resultant higher-order continuity requirements and further handling the mesh sensitivity problem. Numerical examples for shear band simulations show that the proposed second gradient continuum model can produce stable, accurate as well as mesh-size independent solutions without a priori assumption of the shear band path.     

Stress channelling in extreme couple-stress materials Part II: Localized folding vs faulting of a continuum in single and cross geometries

The antiplane strain Green's functions for an applied concentrated force and moment are obtained for Cosserat elastic solids with extreme anisotropy, which can be tailored to bring the material in a state close to an instability threshold such as failure of ellipticity. It is shown that the wave propagation condition (and not ellipticity) governs the behaviour of the antiplane strain Green's functions. These Green's functions are used as perturbing agents to demonstrate in an extreme material the emergence of localized (single and cross) stress channelling and the emergence of antiplane localized folding (or creasing, or weak elastostatic shock) and faulting (or elastostatic shock) of a Cosserat continuum, phenomena which remain excluded for a Cauchy elastic material. During folding some components of the displacement gradient suffer a finite jump, whereas during faulting the displacement itself displays a finite discontinuity.     

A material force method for inelastic fracture mechanics

A material force method is proposed for evaluating the energy release rate and work rate of dissipation for fracture in inelastic materials. The inelastic material response is characterized by an internal variable model with an explicitly defined free energy density and dissipation potential. Expressions for the global material and dissipation forces are obtained from a global balance of energy-momentum that incorporates dissipation from inelastic material behavior. It is shown that in the special case of steady-state growth, the global dissipation force equals the work rate of dissipation, and the global material force and J-integral methods are equivalent. For implementation in finite element computations, an equivalent domain expression of the global material force is developed from the weak form of the energy-momentum balance. The method is applied to model problems of cohesive fracture in a remote K-field for viscoelasticity and elastoplasticity. The viscoelastic problem is used to compare various element discretizations in combination with different schemes for computing strain gradients. For the elastoplastic problem, the effects of cohesive and bulk properties on the plastic dissipation are examined using calculations of the global dissipation force.     

Smoothing the discontinuities of an electrical charge in electrodynamics as a result of diffusion processes

Electrohydrodynamic flows in which there are zones of abrupt changes in the electric charge (while remaining bounded, by assumption) are investigated. In a diffusionless approximation such flows are characterized by a discontinuity in the electric charge q. Examples of such motions are nonstationary flows with moving electrical charge fronts [1], stationary flows in which the electrical charge is lumped in just part of the hydrodynamic stream [2, 3], flows with discontinuity in q [4–7], boundary layers near an electrode grid mounted perpendicularly to the electrohydrodynamic stream. Diffusion effects of charged particles should cause smoothing of the electrical charge discontinuities. The diffusion structure of such discontinuities is studied for high electrical Peclet numbers. The distribution of q in gasdynamic jumps is analyzed taking account of the viscous and diffusion structure of the discontinuities in the small parameter approximation of the electrogasdynamic interaction. Three problems about flows with charged particle diffusion are examined: the problem of scattering of a finite electric charge in a medium at rest, initially concentrated at a point on a line of unit length; the boundary layer on an electrode grid perpendicular to the direction of the charged fluid stream; electrogasdynamic flows with an abrupt change in velocity not accompanied by the appearance of a surface charge.     

Numerical investigation of the slope discontinuities in large deformation finite element formulations

In many multibody system applications, the system components are made of structural elements that can have different orientations, leading to slope discontinuities. In this paper, a numerical investigation of a new procedure that can be used to model structures with slope discontinuities in the finite element absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) is presented. This procedure can be applied to model slope discontinuities in the case of commutative rotations of gradient deficient elements that are used for modeling thin beam and plate structures. An important special case to which the proposed procedure can be applied is the case of all planar gradient deficient ANCF finite elements. The use of the proposed method leads to a constant orthogonal element transformation that describes an arbitrary initial configuration. As a consequence, one obtains, in the case of large commutative rotations and large deformations, a constant mass matrix for structures which have complex geometry. The procedure used in this investigation to model slope discontinuities requires the use of the concept of the intermediate finite element coordinate system. For each finite element, a new set of gradient coordinates that define, at the discontinuity node, the element deformation with respect to the intermediate element coordinate system is introduced. These new gradient coordinates are assumed to be equal for the two finite elements at the point of intersection. That is, the change of the gradients of two elements at the intersection point from their respective intermediate initial reference configuration is assumed to be the same. This procedure leads to a set of linear algebraic equations that define the orthogonal transformation matrix for the finite element. Numerical examples are presented in order to demonstrate the use of the proposed procedure for modeling slope discontinuities.     

Adaptive mesh refinement for two-phase slug flows with an a priori indicator

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel adaptive mesh refinement AMR technique for computing unstable one dimensional two-phase flows in pipelines. In multiphase flows, the prediction and localisation of inter-facial waves, slugs and instabilities related to flow conditions under study require high levels of accuracy. This is more apparent in systems at industrial scales, where flow lines possess highly distorted regions and irregular topologies.Uniform fine meshes for these long devices are costly and in general situations the optimum space discretisation could not be determined a priori.Adaptive mesh refinement AMR procedure provides a remedy to this problem by refining the mesh locally, allowing to capture regions where sharp discontinuities and steep gradients are present. With appropriate algorithm and data organisation, AMR helps to reduce CPU time and speeds up simulations of flows in long pipes. The effectiveness of AMR methods relies on estimators that determine where refinement is required. We show in this work that for transient flows combining gradient-based error estimator with Kelvin–Helmholtz stability condition can improve the acceleration of computation and locate regions where refinements are required. The Kelvin–Helmholtz is a local condition and is an a priori indicator for the refinement.     

Analysis of an interfacial crack in a piezoelectric bi-material via the extended Green’s functions and displacement discontinuity method

Based on the extended Stroh formalism, we first derive the extended Green’s functions for an extended dislocation and displacement discontinuity located at the interface of a piezoelectric bi-material. These include Green’s functions of the extended dislocation, displacement discontinuities within a finite interval and the concentrated displacement discontinuities, all on the interface. The Green’s functions are then applied to obtain the integro-differential equation governing the interfacial crack. To eliminate the oscillating singularities associated with the delta function in the Green’s functions, we represent the delta function in terms of the Gaussian distribution function. In so doing, the integro-differential equation is reduced to a standard integral equation for the interfacial crack problem in piezoelectric bi-material with the extended displacement discontinuities being the unknowns. A simple numerical approach is also proposed to solve the integral equation for the displacement discontinuities, along with the asymptotic expressions of the extended intensity factors and J-integral in terms of the discontinuities near the crack tip. In numerical examples, the effect of the Gaussian parameter on the numerical results is discussed, and the influence of different extended loadings on the interfacial crack behaviors is further investigated.