ANALYSIS OF THE FRACTURE OF BRITTLE ELASTIC-MATERIALS USING A CONTINUUM DAMAGE MODEL

The most known continuum damage theories for brittle structures are su itable to model the degradation of the material due to the deformation process and the consequent initiation of a macro-crack Nevertheless; they are not able to describe the propagation of the crack that leads, eventually, to the breakage of the structure into parts that undergo rigid body motion. This paper presents a theory, formulated from forma l arguments of Continuum Mechanics, that may describe not only the deg radation but also the fracture of elastic structures. The modeling of such a discontinuous phenomenon through a continuous theory is possibl e by taking a cohesion variable, related with the Links between materi al points, as an additional degree of kinematical freedom. The possibi lities of the proposed theory are discussed through examples.