3. Numerical modeling of damage and fracture

3.1 Coupling behavior – Damage and non-local approaches

As we have seen in the previous sections, damage models may or may not be coupled to material behavior. When these models (or criteria) are not coupled, there are no major numerical problems. Several decoupled criteria can be used simultaneously in post-processing, and the accuracy of the results depends on the choice of criterion, parameter identification and the fineness of the finite element mesh used. For a sufficiently fine mesh (when convergence in space is reached), the solution can be considered as no longer mesh-dependent.

In the case of coupled models...