Computation of crack propagation and arrest by simulating microfracturing at the crack tip. Final report

A model that describes the nucleation, growth, and coalescence of microfractures under dynamic loading conditions was used in computational simulations of a DCB crack arrest experiment. The energy absorbed in plastic deformation and in microfracturing of material at the tip of a propagating crack was calculated, and the results agreed well with the fracture toughness calculations made by more conventional although more indirect methods. Agreement between computed and observed crack velocity and arrest length was not good, but should improve when a finer mesh is used. This approach provides a link between micromechanical material response and continuum toughness parameters