Numerical modelling in non linear fracture mechanics

Some numerical studies of crack propagation are based on using constitutive models that accountfor damage evolution in the material. When a critical damage value has been reached in a materialpoint, it is natural to assume that this point has no more carrying capacity, as is done numerically in the elementvanish technique. In the present review this procedure is illustrated for micromechanically based materialmodels, such as a ductile failure model that accounts for the nucleation and growth of voids to coalescence,and a model for intergranular creep failure with diffusive growth of grain boundary cavities leadingto micro-crack formation. The procedure is also illustrated for low cycle fatigue, based on continuum damagemechanics. In addition, the possibility of crack growth predictions for elastic-plastic solids using cohesivezone models to represent the fracture process is discussed