Damage accumulation and fracture initiation in uncracked ductile solids subject to triaxial loading

A damage plasticity model for ductile fracture is proposed. This model is established on the cylindrical coordinate system of principal stress space. Experimental results show that fracture initiation in uncracked ductile solids is sensitive to the hydrostatic pressure and dependent on the Lode angle. The joint effects of pressure and Lode angle define a fracture envelope in principal stress space. Plastic deformation induced damage is calculated by an integral of the damage rate measured at current loading and deformation status with respect to the fracture envelope. A power law damage rule is proposed to characterize the nonlinearity in damage accumulation. A damage-related weakening factor is adopted to describe the material deterioration. The material parameters are calibrated from standard laboratory tests. The proposed model is numerically implemented. Four simulations with emphasis on crack path prediction are presented. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.