Basic topics on damage pseudo-potentials

The meaning and the possible construction of the so-called damage potential s, used frequently in models describing the progressive failure of material s, are analyzed within the setting of a general framework for damage models . The treatment holds for both internal variable models (in which damage va riables are considered as quantities that are not observable, and only kine tic equations describe their evolution) and a larger setting of multifield theories (in which damage variables satisfy appropriate balance equations o f internal interactions). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d. MSC: 73B.