Abstract

This paper describes a procedure for the solution of problems involving tensile cracking using the so-called smeared crack approach, that is, standard finite elements with continuous displacement fields and a standard local constitutive model with strain-softening. An isotropic Rankine damage model is considered. The softening modulus is adjusted according to the material fracture energy and the element size. The resulting continuum and discrete mechanical problems are analyzed and the question of predicting correctly the direction of crack propagation is deemed as the main difficulty to be overcome in the discrete problem. It is proposed to use a crack tracking technique to attain the desired stability and convergence properties of the corresponding formulation. Numerical examples show that the resulting procedure is well-posed, stable and remarkably robust; the results obtained do not seem to suffer from spurious mesh-size or mesh-bias dependence.

Abstract

The importance of crack propagation in the structural behaviour of concrete and masonry structures has led to the development of a wide range of finite element methods for crack simulation. A common standpoint in many of them is the use of tracking algorithms, which identify and designate the location of cracks within the analysed structure. In this way, the crack modelling techniques, smeared or discrete, are applied only to a restricted part of the discretized domain. This paper presents a review of finite element approaches to cracking focusing on the development and use of tracking algorithms. These are presented in four categories according to the information necessary for the definition and storage of the crack-path. In addition to that, the most utilised criteria for the selection of the crack propagation direction are summarized. The various algorithmic issues involved in the development of a tracking algorithm are discussed through the presentation of a local tracking algorithm based on the smeared crack approach. Challenges such as the modelling of arbitrary and multiple cracks propagating towards more than one direction, as well as multi-directional and intersecting cracking, are detailed. The presented numerical model is applied to the analysis of small- and large-scale masonry and concrete structures under monotonic and cyclic loading.

Abstract

This paper describes a procedure for the solution of problems involving tensile cracking using the so-called smeared crack approach, that is, standard finite elements with continuous displacement fields and a standard local constitutive model with strain-softening. An isotropic Rankine damage model is considered. The softening modulus is adjusted according to the material fracture energy and the element size. The resulting continuum and discrete mechanical problems are analyzed and the question of predicting correctly the direction of crack propagation is deemed as the main difficulty to be overcome in the discrete problem. It is proposed to use a crack tracking technique to attain the desired stability and convergence properties of the corresponding formulation. Numerical examples show that the resulting procedure is well-posed, stable and remarkably robust; the results obtained do not seem to suffer from spurious mesh-size or mesh-bias dependence.

Abstract

This paper briefly reviews the formulations used over the last 40 years for the solution of problems involving tensile cracking, with both the discrete and the smeared crack approaches. The paper focuses on the smeared approach, identifying as its main drawbacks the observed mesh‐size and mesh‐bias spurious dependence when the method is applied ‘straightly’. A simple isotropic local damage constitutive model is considered, and the (exponential) softening modulus is regularized according to the material fracture energy and the element size. The continuum and discrete mechanical problems corresponding to both the weak discontinuity (smeared cracks) and the strong discontinuity (discrete cracks) approaches are analysed and the question of propagation of the strain localization band (crack) is identified as the main difficulty to be overcome in the numerical procedure. A tracking technique is used to ensure stability of the solution, attaining the necessary convergence properties of the corresponding discrete finite element formulation. Numerical examples show that the formulation derived is stable and remarkably robust. As a consequence, the results obtained do not suffer from spurious mesh‐size or mesh‐bias dependence, comparing very favourably with those obtained with other fracture and continuum mechanics approaches.