An intermediately-homogenized peridynamics approach to failure of microstructually disordered materials

TL;DR

This paper introduces an intermediately-homogenized peridynamics method for modeling fracture in microstructurally disordered materials, capturing local heterogeneity without detailed microstructural resolution.

Contribution

It develops a novel peridynamics approach that uses random order parameter fields to efficiently model fracture in disordered materials.

Findings

Effective representation of microstructural disorder in fracture modeling

Retention of essential heterogeneity information

Potential for improved predictive capabilities in complex materials

Abstract

Peridynamics provides a versatile tool for fracture modelling in materials where fracture pathways cannot be predicted beforehand, but must be envisaged as an emergent features of the deformation process. One class of materials where this is surely the case are materials with strong microstructural disorder such as random composites, random porous materials or disordered metamaterials. For this class of materials we propose an intermediately-homogenized peridynamic modelling approach where the disordered microstructure is not resolved in full spatial detail but described in terms of random order parameter fields which retain essential information about the local heterogeneity and spatial correlations of material properties.