Time dependent damage in half-plane part 1: Displacement loading

Analyzed in this study is the time dependent damage of a half-plane subjected to a normal surface displacement over a segment at 0.5 mm/s. The material is made of 4340 steel and dissipates energy in an irreversible manner such that the stress and strain response in each local element can be different and change with time. The inherent coupling between mechanical and thermal effects are accounted for without letting the rate change of volume with surface for the element to vanish. This is in contrast to the assumption made in the classical theories of continuum mechanics.Results obtained from the more refined theory of surface/volume energy density differed qualitatively and quantitatively from those of plasticity. The differences are particularly significant in the vicinity of load application and/or boundary. Stress and strain behavior in the local elements exhibited both hardening and softening behavior while plasticity pre-fixes the monotonic behavior for every element at all times. Uniaxial data are related uniquely to those under multiaxial conditions by invoking the concept of a plane of homogeneity. This is done in general without making the restrictive assumptions in plasticity that the effective stress and effective strain coincide with the uniaxial data. By including the change of local strain rates and strain rate history, local elements are found to undergo cooling and heating during the initial stage of loading. Such non-equilibrium phenomenon has also been observed experimentally in uniaxial and pre-cracked specimens.     

Interaction effects of multiple damage mechanisms in composite sandwich beams subject to time dependent loading

Theoretical models are formulated to explain evolution and interaction of the damage mechanisms for multiple delamination of the face-sheet and core crushing in composite sandwich beams subjected to dynamically applied out-of-plane loading and continuously supported by rigid planes. The models are based on simplified one-dimensional formulations and describe the impacted face of the sandwich as a set of Timoshenko beams joined by cohesive interfaces and resting on a nonlinear Winkler foundation, which approximates the response of the core; the dimensionless formulation highlights the material/structure groups that control the mechanical response. The characteristic features of the problem and transitions in damage progression are explored on varying geometrical parameters and material properties and magnitude and duration of the applied load. For quasi-static loading and low velocity impact, core/face-sheet interactions generate energy barriers to the propagation of delaminations; the efficacy of the barriers in controlling damage in the face-sheets depends on the relative stiffnesses of face-sheet and core and on the foundation yielding strength. For dynamic loading conditions, significant dynamic effects arise in certain regimes and cause substantial changes in behavior: shielding of the crack tip stress fields provided by the foundation is reduced, especially after the load is removed when important delamination openings occur; core plasticity generally opposes this behavior and limits damage in the face-sheet.     

Cracking in orthotropic half-plane with a functionally graded coating under anti-plane loading

This investigation evaluates, by the dislocation method, the dynamic stress intensity factors of cracked orthotropic half-plane and functionally graded material coating of a coating–substrate material due to the action of anti-plane traction on the crack surfaces. First, by using the complex Fourier transform, the dislocation problem can be solved and the stress fields are obtained with Cauchy singularity at the location of dislocation. The dislocation solution is utilized to derive integral equations for multiple interacting cracks in the orthotropic half-plane with functionally graded orthotropic coating. Several examples are solved and dynamic stress intensity factors are obtained.     

Penny-shaped and half-plane cracks in a transversely isotropic piezoelectric solid under arbitrary loading

Summary The problem of a penny-shaped crack in a transversely isotropic piezoelectric material loaded by both normal and tangential tractions and by electric charges is analyzed. Closed-form solutions are obtained for the full electroelastic fields as well as for the stress and electric displacement intensity factors. Solutions are also obtained for the (non-trivial) limiting case of a half-plane crack. The results are illustrated on the example of piezoceramics PZT-6B. Received 12 July 1999; accepted for publication 20 July 1999     

A pseudo-elastic material damage model, part II: Application to the scaling of specimen size, material behavior and loading rate

A failure criterion is presented which relates the strain energy density of the material to both yielding and fracture. Cumulative material damage throughout a structural component may be monitored and the relative influence of yielding and stable crack growth assessed. The criterion is demonstrated, using finite element analysis, for center cracked panel specimens differing by material toughness values. From crack growth increment predictions using the uniaxial stress-strain behavior of the material, the criterion predicts the critical value of the strain energy density factor S_c governing crack instability.     

Time dependent wave motion in a permeable bed

Meccanica - The present study deals with the transient flexural gravity wave motion associated with floating elastic plate in the presence of permeable bottom. Integral form of the floating plate...     

Applied and engineering versions of the theory of elastoplastic processes of active complex loading part 2: Identification and verification

The deviator constitutive relation of the proposed theory of plasticity has a three-term form (the stress, stress rate, and strain rate vectors formed from the deviators are collinear) and, in the specialized (applied) version, in addition to the simple loading function, contains four dimensionless constants of the material determined from experiments along a two-link strain trajectory with an orthogonal break. The proposed simple mechanism is used to calculate the constants of themodel for four metallic materials that significantly differ in the composition and in the mechanical properties; the obtained constants do not deviate much from their average values (over the four materials). The latter are taken as universal constants in the engineering version of the model, which thus requires only one basic experiment, i. e., a simple loading test. If the material exhibits the strengthening property in cyclic circular deformation, then the model contains an additional constant determined from the experiment along a strain trajectory of this type. (In the engineering version of the model, the cyclic strengthening effect is not taken into account, which imposes a certain upper bound on the difference between the length of the strain trajectory arc and the module of the strain vector.)     

A phenomenological model of damage in articular cartilage under impact loading

Damage progression in high-strain rate and impact tests on articular cartilage is considered. A new type of kinetic damage evolution law is proposed and used to draw implications about the accumulated damage and the coefficient of restitution. Based on the developed damage model, a new fracture criterion is introduced.     

Simulation of damage evolution in ductile metals undergoing dynamic loading conditions

A set of constitutive equations for large rate-dependent elastic-plastic-damage materials at elevated temperatures is presented to be able to analyze adiabatic high strain rate deformation processes for a wide range of stress triaxialities. The model is based on the concepts of continuum damage mechanics. Since the material macroscopic thermo-mechanical response under large strain and high strain rate deformation loading is governed by different physical mechanisms, a multi-dissipative approach is proposed. It incorporates thermo-mechanical coupling effects as well as internal dissipative mechanisms through rate-dependent constitutive relations with a set of internal variables. In addition, the effect of stress triaxiality on the onset and evolution of plastic flow, damage and failure is discussed.Furthermore, the algorithm for numerical integration of the coupled constitutive rate equations is presented. It relies on operator split methodology resulting in an inelastic predictor-elastic corrector technique. The explicit finite element program LS-DYNA augmented by an user-defined material subroutine is used to approximate boundary-value problems under dynamic loading conditions. Numerical simulations of dynamic experiments with different specimens are performed and good correlation of numerical results and published experimental data is achieved. Based on numerical studies modified specimens geometries are proposed to be able to detect complex damage and failure mechanisms in Hopkinson-Bar experiments.     

A pseudo-elastic material damage model,part I: Strain energy density criterion

A failure criterion is presented which relates the strain energy density of the material to both yielding and fracture. Cumulative material damage throughout a structural component may be monitored and the relative influence of yielding and stable crack growth assessed. The criterion is demonstrated, using finite element analysis, for center cracked panel specimens differing by material toughness values. From crack growth increment predictions using the uniaxial stress-strain behavior of the material, the criterion predicts the critical value of the strain energy density factor S_c governing crack instability.     

Length-scale effects on damage development in tensile loading of glass-sphere filled epoxy

Particle-reinforced polymers are widely used in load-carrying applications. The effect of particle size on damage development in the polymer is still relatively unexplored. In this study, the effect of glass-sphere size on the damage development in tensile loaded epoxy has been investigated. The diameter of the glass spheres ranged from approximately 0.5–50 μm. The first type of damage observed was debonding at the sphere poles, which subsequently grew along the interface between the glass spheres and epoxy matrix. These cracks were observed to kink out into the matrix in the radial direction perpendicular to the applied load. The debonding stresses increased with decreasing sphere diameter, whereas the length to diameter ratio of the resulting matrix cracks increased with increasing sphere diameter. These effects could not be explained by elastic stress analysis and linear-elastic fracture mechanics. Possible explanations are that a thin interphase shell may form in the epoxy close to the glass spheres, and that there is a length-scale effect in the yield process which depends on the strain gradients. Cohesive fracture processes can contribute to the influence of sphere size on matrix-crack length. Better knowledge on these underlying size-dependent mechanisms that control damage development in polymers and polymer composites is useful in development of stronger materials. From a methodology point of view, the glass-sphere composite test can be used as an alternative technique (although still in a qualitative way) to hardness vs. indentation depth to quantify length-scale effects in inelastic deformation of polymers.     

A strain rate dependent yield criterion for isotropic polymers: Low to high rates of loading

In this study, strain rate sensitivity of yield behavior in a semicrystalline polymer, Nylon 101, was experimentally investigated. A precise definition of yield was established for the polymer by deforming several specimens to certain levels of strain and measuring the residual strains after unloading and strain recovery. The material was then subjected to different loading conditions (uniaxial to multiaxial) at four different quasi-static and intermediate strain rates to determine several points on the material's yield loci. Due to positive strain rate sensitivity of this polymer, the material's yield loci expanded uniformly as the strain rates were increased to higher values. Further, an empirical hydrostatic pressure dependent yield equation (with four material constants) was developed to simulate these behaviors as a function of strain rate. The capability of the developed criterion was examined by simulating high strain rate yield behavior of the material in tension and in compression. The simulation results revealed very good correlations/predictions between the experimental data and the responses determined from the proposed yield criterion.     

Fatigue damage model for bridge under traffic loading: application made to Tsing Ma Bridge

A fatigue damage model is developed to account for the damage accumulation process in bridges subjected to in-field traffic loading. Continuous damage mechanics (CDM) is applied to formulate damage kinetic constitutive equations. On-line strain gauge measurements are then made on the orthotropic steel deck structure of the Tsing Ma Bridge, an essential portion of the transport network for the Hong Kong airport. Fatigue life prediction analyses are then made. The results agree well with those obtained by the tests.     

Numerical simulation of interlaminar damage propagation in CFRP cross-ply laminates under transverse loading

This paper proposes a numerical simulation of interlaminar damage propagation in FRP laminates under transverse loading, using the finite element method. First, we conducted drop-weight impact tests on CFRP cross-ply laminates. A ply crack was generated at the center of the lowermost ply, and then a butterfly-shaped interlaminar delamination was propagated at the 90/0 ply interface. Based on these experimental observations, we present a numerical simulation of interlaminar damage propagation, using a cohesive zone model to address the energy-based criterion for damage propagation. This simulation can address the interlaminar delamination with high accuracy by locating a fine mesh near the damage process zone, while maintaining computational efficiency with the use of automatic mesh generation. The simulated results of interlaminar delamination agreed well with the experiment results. Moreover, we demonstrated that the proposed method reduces the computational cost of the simulation.     

A mesomechanical approach to inhomogeneous particulate composites undergoing localized damage:: part I—a mesodomain simulation

This paper presents a mesoscale homogenization methodology to deal with the damage localization in inhomogeneous particulate-reinforced composites. An effective local particle volume fraction, f ^v_loc,eff, which includes the particle size effect is suggested to characterize the damage-inducing aspect of clusters. The clustering regions in a particulate composite accommodating the saturated local damage at an applied stress amplitude are simulated by mesodomains, subdomains of homogeneous medium and homogeneous damage distribution. The size of the mesodomains is determined by the transition condition from local damage to global damage via macro-mechanics. The mesodomain positions are found in a materials science manner by mapping the area contours of f ^v_loc,eff for the composite. Transformation of a clustering composite into a two-homogeneous phase material enables one to appropriately illustrate the local constitutive behaviours, and paves the way to predict saturated local damage life.     

Time dependent scission and cross-linking in an elastomeric cylinder undergoing circular shear and heat conduction

When an elastomeric material is at a sufficiently high temperature, there can be time-dependent scission of macromolecular network cross-links. The affected molecules can recoil and cross-link to form a new network in a new reference configuration. The material then consists of several molecular networks. This microstructural change affects the mechanical response and leads to permanent set. A constitutive equation is presented, based on the experimental work of Tobolsky (Properties and Structures of Polymers, Wiley, New York, 1960, pp. 223-265), which can account for the influence of this temperature-dependent microstructural change on the mechanical response. It is used to study an elastomeric cylinder undergoing circular shear and transient heat conduction.     

Statistical damage theory of 2D lattices: Energetics and physical foundations of damage parameter

The paper presents an in-depth analysis of two-dimensional disordered lattices of statistical damage mechanics for the study of quasi-brittle materials. The strain energy variation in correspondence to damage formation is thoroughly examined and all the different contributions to the net energy changes are identified and analyzed separately. We demonstrate that the introduction of a new defect in the microstructure produces a perturbation of the microscopic random fields according to a principle of maximum energy dissipation. A redistribution parameter η is introduced to measure the load redistribution capability of the microstructure. This parameter can be estimated from simulation data of detailed models. This energetic framework sets the stage for the investigation of the statistical foundations of the damage parameter as well as the damage localization. Logical statistical arguments are developed to derive two analytical models (a maximum field model and a mean field one) for the estimate of the damage parameter via a bottom-up approach that relates the applied load to the microstructural disorder. Simulation data provided input to the statistical models as well as the means of validation. Simulated tensile tests of honeycomb lattices with mechanical disorder demonstrate that long-range interactions amongst sets of microcracks with different orientations play a fundamental role already in damage nucleation as well as in the homogeneous–heterogeneous transition. A functional “hierarchy of sets” of grain boundaries, based on their orientation in relation to the applied load, seems to emerge from this study. Results put in evidence the ability of discrete models of capturing seamlessly the damage anisotropy. The ideas exposed inhere should be useful to develop a full rational model for disordered lattices and, later, to extend the approach to discrete models with solid elements. The findings suggest that statistical damage mechanics might aid in the quest of reliable and physically sound constitutive relations of damage, even in synergy with micromechanics.