Complete damage in elastic and viscoelastic media and its energetics

A model for the evolution of damage that allows for complete disintegration is addressed. Small strains and a linear response function are assumed. The ``flow rule'' for the damage parameter is rate-independent. The stored energy involves the gradient of the damage variable, which determines an internal length-scale. Quasi-static fully rate-independent evolution is considered as well as rate-dependent evolution including viscous/inertial effects. Illustrative 2-dimensional computer simulations are presented, too