Effect of random defects on dynamic fracture in quasi-brittle materials

We propose an asynchronous spacetime discontinuous Galerkin (aSDG) method combined with a novel rate-dependent interfacial damage model as a means to simulate crack nucleation and propagation in quasi-brittle materials. Damage acts in the new model to smoothly transition the aSDG jump conditions on fracture surfaces between Riemann solutions for bonded and debonded conditions. We use the aSDG method’s powerful adaptive meshing capabilities to ensure solution accuracy without resorting to crack-tip enrichment functions and extend those capabilities to support fracture nucleation, extension and intersection. Precise alignment of inter-element boundaries with flaw orientations and crack-propagation directions ensures mesh-independent crack-path predictions. We demonstrate these capabilities in a study of crack-path convergence as adaptive error tolerances tend to zero. The fracture response of quasi-brittle materials is highly sensitive to the presence and properties of microstructural defects. We propose two approaches to model these inhomogeneities. In the first, we represent defects explicitly as crack-like features in the analysis domain’s geometry with random distributions of size, location, and orientation. In the second, we model microscopic flaws implicitly, with probabilistic distributions of strength and orientation, to drive nucleation of macroscopic fractures. Crack-path oscillation, microcracking, and crack branching make numerical simulation of dynamic fracture particularly challenging. We present numerical examples that explore the influence of model parameters and inhomogeneities on fracture patterns and the aSDG model’s ability to capture complex fracture patterns and interactions.