Rate‐dependent fracture simulation of viscoelastic material by the phase‐field method

Abstract

The phase-field method has been studied for fracture analysis during the last decade. Based on the classical GRIFFITH-type brittle fracture, good agreements are obtained by comparing to other numerical methods as well as experiments. Furthermore, phase-field modelling does not depend on any explicit criterion and gets rid of discontinuous displacement tracing. Regarding most elastomers exhibiting both elastic and viscous behaviour simultaneously, it yields a rate-dependent mechanical response. Investigated by experiments, the fracture process is shown to be rate-dependent as well. In this work, a viscoelastic rheological model based on REESE & GOVINDJEE [1] is coupled to the phase-field approach to investigate rate-dependent fracture evolution within elastomers. The fracture mechanism is based on the volumetric-isochoric split and the driving force for fracture is defined to be the elastic strain energy potential by both the equilibrium and the non-equilibrium branches. Representative numerical models are simulated and related findings and potential subsequent perspectives are summarized to close the paper.