Study Of The Damage-Induced Anisotropy Of Quasi-Brittle Materials Using The Component Assembling Model

Damage-induced anisotropy of quasi-brittle materials is investigated using component assembling model in this study. Damage-induced anisotropy is one significant character of quasi-brittle materials coupled with nonlinearity and strain softening. Formulation of such complicated phenomena is a difficult problem till now. The present model is based on the component assembling concept, where constitutive equations of materials are formed by means of assembling two kinds of components' response functions. These two kinds of components, orientational and volumetric ones, are abstracted based on pair-functional potentials and the Cauchy - Born rule. Moreover, macroscopic damage of quasi-brittle materials can be reflected by stiffness changing of orientational components, which represent grouped atomic bonds along discrete directions. Simultaneously, anisotropic characters are captured by the naturally directional property of the orientational component. Initial damage surface in the axial-shear stress space is calculated and analyzed. Furthermore, the anisotropic quasi-brittle damage behaviors of concrete under uniaxial, proportional, and nonproportional combined loading are analyzed to elucidate the utility and limitations of the present damage model. The numerical results show good agreement with the experimental data and predicted results of the classical anisotropic damage models.

Damage Evolution In Cement Mortar Due To Erosion Of Sulphate

Ultrasonic technique is used to detect the velocity change of stress wave propagated in the cement mortar immersed in the solution of sodium sulfate for 425 days. Also the density change of specimens at different erosion time is measured. By curve fitting, the effect of solutions' concentration and water/cement ratio on the damage evolution is analyzed. The SEM observation on the growth of delayed ettringite is also performed. It shows that the damage evolution of specimens attacked by sulphate solution is dominantly induced by the nucleation and growth of delayed ettringite, and the average size of microvoids in cement mortar affects the damage evolution significantly. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A theoretical analysis on stochastic behaviour of short cracks and fatigue damage of metals

In this paper, the closed form of solution to the stochastic differential equation for a fatigue crack evolution system is derived. and the relationship between metal fatigue damage and crack stochastic behaviour is investigated. It is found that the damage extent of metals is independent of crack stochastic behaviour ii the stochastic deviation of the crack growth rate is directly proportional to its mean value. The evolution of stochastic deviation of metal fatigue damage in the stage close to the transition point between short and long crack regimes is also discussed.

Damage analysis of tetragonal perovskite structure ceramics implicated by asymptotic field solutions and boundary conditions

Cracking of ceramics with tetragonal perovskite grain structure is known to appear at different sites and scale level. The multiscale character of damage depends on the combined effects of electromechanical coupling, prevailing physical parameters and boundary conditions. These detail features are exhibited by application of the energy density criterion with judicious use of the mode I asymptotic and full field solution in the range of r/a = 10(-4) to 10(-2) where r and a are, respectively, the distance to the crack tip and half crack length. Very close to the stationary crack tip, bifurcation is predicted resembling the dislocation emission behavior invoked in the molecular dynamics model. At the macroscopic scale, crack growth is predicted to occur straight ahead with two yield zones to the sides. A multiscale feature of crack tip damage is provided for the first time. Numerical values of the relative distances and bifurcation angles are reported for the PZT-4 ceramic subjected to different electric field to applied stress ratio and boundary conditions that consist of the specification of electric field/mechanical stress, electric displacement/mechanical strain, and mixed conditions. To be emphasized is that the multiscale character of damage in piezoceramics does not appear in general. It occurs only for specific combinations of the external and internal field parameters, elastic/piezoelectric/dielectric constants and specified boundary conditions. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Nonlinear fatigue damage model based on the residual strength degradation law

In this paper, a logarithmic expression to describe the residual strength degradation process is developed in order to fatigue test results for normalized carbon steel. The definition and expression of fatigue damage due to symmetrical stress with a constant amplitude are also given. The expression of fatigue damage can also explain the nonlinear properties of fatigue damage. Furthermore, the fatigue damage of structures under random stress is analyzed, and an iterative formula to describe the fatigue damage process is deduced. Finally, an approximate method for evaluating the fatigue life of structures under repeated random stress blocking is presented through various calculation examples.

Damage evaluation and damage localization of rock

Knowledge of damage accumulation and corresponding failure evolution are prerequisite for effective maintenance of civil engineering so as to avoid disaster. Based on statistical mesoscopic damage mechanics, it was revealed that there are three stages in the process of deformation, damage and failure of multiscale heterogeneous elastic-brittle medium. These are uniformly distributed damage, localized damage and catastrophic failure. In order to identify the transitions from scattering damage to macroscopically localized one, a condition for damage localization was given. The experiments of rock under uniaxial compression with the aid of observations of acoustic emission and speckle correlation do support the concept of localization. This provides a potential approach to properly evaluate damage accumulation in practice. In addition, it is found in the experiments that catastrophic failure displays critical sensitivity. This gives a helpful clue to the prediction of catastrophic failure. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A self-closed system of equations of damage evolution

This paper introduces a statistical mesomechanical approach to the evolution of damage. A self-closed formulation of the damage evolution is derived.

Dynamic damage and failure in viscoplastic materials

In this paper, a dynamic damage model in ductile solids under the application of a dynamic mean tensile stress is developed. The proposed model considers void nucleation and growth as parts of the damage process under intense dynamic loading (strain rates epsilon greater than or equal to 10(3) s(-1)). The evolution equation of the ductile void has the closed form, in which work-hardening behavior, rate-dependent contribution and inertial effects are taken into account. Meanwhile, a plate impact test is performed for simulating the dynamic fracture process in LY12 aluminum alloy. The damage model is incorporated in a hydrodynamic computer code, to simulate the first few stress reverberations in the target as it spalls and postimpact porosity in the specimen. Fair agreement between computed and experimental results is obtained. Numerical analysis shows that the influence of inertial resistance on the initial void growth in the case of high loading rate can not be neglected. It is also indicated that the dynamic growth of voids is highly sensitive to the strain rates.

Embryo-damage induced nucleation of microcracks in an aluminum-alloy under impact loading

The nucleation of microdamage under dynamic loading was investigated through planar impact experiments accomplished with a light gas gun. The microscopic observation of recovered and sectioned specimens showed that microcracks were nucleated only by cracking of brittle particles inside material. However, for comparison the in situ static tensile tests on the same material conducted with a scanning electron microscope showed that the microcracks were nucleated by many forms those were fracture of ductile matrix, debonding particles from matrix and cracking of brittle particles. The quantitative metallographic observations of the specimens subjected to impact loading showed that most of the cracked particles were situated on grain boundaries of the aluminium matrix. These facts suggested the concept of critical size and incubation time of submicroscopic cavities in the dynamic case and the mechanism of embryo-damage induced nucleation by fracture of brittle particles in the aluminium alloy under impact loading was proposed.