A GRADIENT-ENHANCED DAMAGE APPROACH TO FRACTURE

A gradient-enhanced damage is formulated in which the Laplacian of the internal variable which memorises the damage enters the damage loadin g function in addition to the conventional dependence on this internal variable itself. The computational setting for this higher-order cont inuum model is fully elaborated. Its embedment in thermodynamics is di scussed and some remarks are made on the additional boundary condition s that arise. Finally, the special case is discussed for which there i s a linear relation between the damage variable and the internal varia ble that memorises the damage evolution.