Alexander Schlüter

Configurational Forces in a Phase Field Model for Dynamic Brittle Fracture

In this work, the concept of configurational forces is proposed to enhance the post-processing of phase field simulations for dynamic brittle fracture. A local configurational force balance is derived by taking the gradient of the Lagrangian density of the phase field fracture problem. It is shown that the total configurational forces computed for a crack tip control volume are closely related to the Griffith criterion of classical fracture mechanics. Finally, the evaluation of the configurational within the finite element framework is demonstrated by two examples.

Numerical Solution Strategies for a Dynamic Phase Field Fracture Model

This work discusses the efficiency of six strategies for the numerical solution of the coupled system of partial differential equations that arise from a phase field description of dynamic fracture. Efficient numerical treatment of the dynamic phase field fracture model is a prerequisite for the simulation of failure due to brittle fracture in realistic scenarios such as manufacturing.Firstly, the phase field description of fracturing of brittle solids is introduced. Afterwards, three monolithic as well as three staggered finite element solution strategies are outlined and their performance is studied in two benchmark problems.