In this paper, the use of a cohesive-zone approach to model the mode-I fracture of adhesive joints made from a polymer-matrix composite is demonstrated. Cohesive-zone parameters were obtained by matching numerical results to experimental observations. It is shown that there is a distinction between the characteristic strength of the interface associated with the toughness, and the intrinsic coh...

In phase-field models the damage evolution problem is considered as a minimisation of Griffith-like energy functional, governed by principles irreversibility, stability and balance. Herein, we consider characterised different degradation dissipation functions. With proper choice for characteristic functions in models, it possible to reproduce cohesive fracture one-dimensional setting. We bar wi...

Finite element calculations of dynamic fracture based on embedding cohesive surfaces in a continuum indicate that the predictions are sensitive to the cohesive law used. Simulations were performed on a square block in plane strain with an initial edge crack loaded at a constant rate of strain. Cohesive laws that have an initial elastic response were observed to produce spontaneous branching at ...

We derive a cohesive fracture model by homogenizing a periodic composite material whose microstructure is characterized by the presence of brittle inclusions in a reticulated unbreakable elastic structure.

Results from a combined experimental and numerical investigation into the effects of rate on mode-II fracture of a plastically-deforming, adhesively-bonded joint are presented. It is shown that a cohesive-zone model has to be modified to include coupling between normal and shear modes of deformation when there is extensive shear deformation of the adhesive layer. A suitable cohesive-zone modeli...

Mixed-mode fracture of an adhesively-bonded structure made from a commercial adhesive and a dual-phase steel has been studied under different rates. Since mixedmode fracture occurs along the interface between the steel and adhesive, the cohesiveparameters for the interface were required. The mode-II interfacial properties were deduced in earlier work. In this paper the mode-I interfacial toughn...

We present a method to reduce mesh bias in dynamic fracture simulations using the fi nite element method withadaptive insertion of extrinsic cohesive zone elements along element boundaries. The geometry of the domaindiscretization is important in this setting because cracks are only allowed to propagate along element facets andcan potentially bias the crack paths. To reduce mesh...

In this work, a novel multiscale cohesive zone model is proposed, in which the bulk material is modeled as a local quasi-continuum medium that obeys the Cauchy–Born rule while the cohesive force and displacement relations inside the cohesive zone are governed by a coarse grained depletion potential. The interface depletion potential is constructed based on the Derjaguin approximation of nonloca...

This inaugural article has a twofold purpose: (i) to present a simpler and more general justification of the fundamental scaling laws of quasibrittle fracture, bridging the asymptotic behaviors of plasticity, linear elastic fracture mechanics, and Weibull statistical theory of brittle failure, and (ii) to give a broad but succinct overview of various applications and ramifications covering many...

[1] Dry slab avalanches release by propagation of shear fractures in a thin, planar weak layer underneath a cohesive, stronger slab. This implies that a balance between shear fracture toughness and the shear fracture stress intensity factor fundamentally determines snow slab stability. Conventionally, fracture toughness is a material property and, for most materials, emphasis is on tensile frac...