Simulation of the meso-cracks damage of the granite

The meso-crack growth mechanism inducing an anisotropic behavior observed in quasi-brittle materials is modelled in a three-dimensional framework. Damage is described by a second-order variable and the thermodynamic potential is formulated starting from the tensor functions representation theory. The normality rule with respect to the function defining the reversibility domain leads to damage splitting-like kinetics, which is commonly observed for the materials concerned. The emphasis is put on the identification of a few number of material constants which are determined from classical triaxial tests with unloading. The model is evaluated by a series of experiments carried out on Vienne granite samples. (author)