Damage and Failure for ductile metals:

Overview:
Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit offer a general capability for predicting the beginning of failure and a capability for modeling progressive damage and failure of ductile metals. In the most general case this requires the specification of the following.

The undamaged elastic-plastic response of the material. o We can assume as material properties (Johnson-Cook). A damage initiation criterion (Damage initiation for ductile metals, Section 23.2.2); and A damage evolution response, including a choice of element removal (Damage evolution and element removal for ductile metals, Section 23.2.3).

A summary of the general framework for progressive damage and failure in Abaqus is given in Progressive damage and failure, Section 23.1.1. This section provides an overview of the damage initiation criteria and damage evolution law for ductile metals.

Damage initiation criterion:

Abaqus offers a variety of choices of damage initiation criteria for ductile metals, each associated with distinct types of material failure. They can be classified in the following categories: Damage initiation criteria for the fracture of metals, including ductile and shear criteria. Damage initiation criteria for the necking instability of sheet metal. These include forming limit diagrams (FLD, FLSD, and MSFLD) intended to assess the formability of sheet metal and the Marciniak-Kuczynski (M-K) criterion (available only in Abaqus/Explicit) to numerically predict necking instability in sheet metal taking into account the deformation history.

These criteria are discussed in Damage initiation for ductile metals, Section 23.2.2. Each damage initiation criterion has an associated output variable to indicate whether the criterion has been met during the analysis. A value of 1.0 or higher indicates that the initiation criterion has been met. More than one damage initiation criterion can be specified for a given material. If multiple damage initiation criteria are specified for the same material, they are treated independently. Once a particular initiation criterion is satisfied, the material stiffness is degraded according to the specified damage evolution law for that criterion; in the absence of a damage evolution law, however, the material stiffness is not degraded. A failure mechanism for which no damage evolution response is specified is said to be inactive. Abaqus will evaluate the initiation criterion for an inactive mechanism for output purposes only, but the mechanism will have no effect on the material response.

Damage evolution:
The damage evolution law describes the rate of degradation of the material stiffness once the corresponding initiation criterion has been reached. For damage in ductile metals Abaqus assumes that the degradation of the stiffness associated with each active failure mechanism can be modeled using a scalar damage variable, ( ), where represents the set of active mechanisms. At any given time during the analysis the stress tensor in the material is given by the scalar damage equation

where D is the overall damage variable and is the effective (or undamaged) stress tensor computed in the current increment. are the stresses that would exist in the material in the absence of damage. The material has lost its load-carrying capacity when . By default, an element is removed from the mesh if all of the section points at any one integration location have lost their load-carrying capacity. The overall damage variable, D, captures the combined effect of all active mechanisms and is computed in terms of the individual damage variables, , according to a user-specified rule. Abaqus supports different models of damage evolution in ductile metals and provides controls associated with element deletion due to material failure, as described in Damage evolution and element removal for ductile metals, Section 23.2.3. All of the available models use a formulation intended to alleviate the strong mesh dependency of the results that can arise from strain localization effects during progressive damage.

Elements:
The failure modeling capability for ductile metals can be used with any elements in Abaqus that include mechanical behavior (elements that have displacement degrees of freedom). For coupled temperature-displacement elements the thermal properties of the material are not affected by the progressive damage of the material stiffness until the condition for element deletion is reached; at this point the thermal contribution of the element is also removed. The damage initiation criteria for sheet metal necking instability (FLD, FLSD, MSFLD, and M-K) are available only for elements that include mechanical behavior and use a plane stress formulation (i.e., plane stress, shell, continuum shell, and membrane elements).

23.2.2 Damage initiation for ductile metals: Overview:

The material damage initiation capability for ductile metals: Is intended as a general capability for predicting initiation of damage in metals, including sheet, extrusion, and cast metals as well as other materials. Can be used in combination with the damage evolution models for ductile metals. Allows the specification of more than one damage initiation criterion.

Damage initiation criteria for fracture of metals:

Two main mechanisms can cause the fracture of a ductile metal: ductile fracture due to the nucleation, growth, and coalescence of voids; and shear fracture due to shear band localization. Based on phenomenological observations, these two mechanisms call for different forms of the criteria for the onset of damage. The functional forms provided by Abaqus for these criteria are discussed below. These criteria can be used in combination with the damage evolution models for ductile metals discussed in Damage evolution and element removal for ductile metals, Section 23.2.3, to model fracture of a ductile metal.
Ductile criterion: The ductile criterion is a phenomenological model for predicting the onset of

damage due to nucleation, growth, and coalescence of voids. The model assumes that the equivalent plastic strain at the onset of damage, rate: , is a function of stress triaxiality and strain

where is the stress triaxiality, p is the pressure stress, q is the Mises equivalent stress, and is the equivalent plastic strain rate. The criterion for damage initiation is met when the following condition is satisfied:

where is a state variable that increases monotonically with plastic deformation. At each increment during the analysis the incremental increase in is computed as

In Abaqus/Standard the ductile criterion can be used in conjunction with the Mises, Johnson-Cook, Hill, and Drucker-Prager plasticity models and in Abaqus/Explicit in conjunction with the Mises, Johnson-Cook, Hill, and Drucker-Prager plasticity models, including equation of state.

23.2.3 Damage evolution and element removal for ductile metals: Overview:
The damage evolution capability for ductile metals: Assumes that damage is characterized by the progressive degradation of the material stiffness, leading to material failure. Must be used in combination with a damage initiation criterion for ductile metals (Damage initiation for ductile metals, Section 23.2.2); Uses mesh-independent measures (either plastic displacement or physical energy dissipation) to drive the evolution of damage after damage initiation. Takes into account the combined effect of different damage mechanisms acting simultaneously on the same material and includes options to specify how each mechanism contributes to the overall material degradation. Offers options for what occurs upon failure, including the removal of elements from the mesh.

Damage evolution:
Figure 23.2.31 illustrates the characteristic stress-strain behavior of a material undergoing damage. In the context of an elastic-plastic material with isotropic hardening, the damage manifests itself in two forms: softening of the yield stress and degradation of the elasticity. The solid curve in the figure represents the damaged stress-strain response, while the dashed curve is the response in the absence of damage. As discussed later, the damaged response depends on the element dimensions such that mesh dependency of the results is minimized.

Figure 23.2.31 Stress-strain curve with progressive damage degradation. In the figure and are the yield stress and equivalent plastic strain at the onset of damage, and is the equivalent plastic strain at failure; that is, when the overall damage variable reaches the value . The 4

overall damage variable, D, captures the combined effect of all active damage mechanisms and is computed in terms of the individual damage variables, . The value of the equivalent plastic strain at failure, , depends on the characteristic length of the element and cannot be used as a material parameter for the specification of the damage evolution law. Instead, the damage evolution law is specified in terms of equivalent plastic displacement, , or in terms of fracture energy dissipation, . Mesh dependency and characteristic length: When material damage occurs, the stress-strain relationship no longer accurately represents the material's behavior. Continuing to use the stress-strain relation introduces a strong mesh dependency based on strain localization, such that the energy dissipated decreases as the mesh is refined. A different approach is required to follow the strain-softening branch of the stress-strain response curve. Hillerborg's (1976) fracture energy proposal is used to reduce mesh dependency by creating a stress-displacement response after damage is initiated. Using brittle fracture concepts, Hillerborg defines the energy required to open a unit area of crack, , as a material parameter. With this approach, the softening response after damage initiation is characterized by a stress-displacement response rather than a stress-strain response.

The implementation of this stress-displacement concept in a finite element model requires the definition of a characteristic length, L, associated with an integration point. The fracture energy is then given as

This expression introduces the definition of the equivalent plastic displacement, , as the fracture work conjugate of the yield stress after the onset of damage (work per unit area of the crack). Before damage initiation ; after damage initiation .

The definition of the characteristic length depends on the element geometry and formulation: it is a typical length of a line across an element for a first-order element; it is half of the same typical length for a second-order element. For beams and trusses it is a characteristic length along the element axis. For membranes and shells it is a characteristic length in the reference surface. For axisymmetric elements it is a characteristic length in the rz plane only. For cohesive elements it is equal to the constitutive thickness. This definition of the characteristic length is used because the direction in which fracture occurs is not known in advance. Therefore, elements with large aspect ratios will have rather different behavior depending on the direction in which they crack: some mesh sensitivity remains because of this effect, and elements that have aspect ratios close to unity are recommended. Each damage initiation criterion described in Damage initiation for ductile metals, Section 23.2.2, may have an associated damage evolution law. The damage evolution law can be specified in terms of equivalent plastic displacement, , or in terms of fracture energy
5

dissipation, . Both of these options take into account the characteristic length of the element to alleviate mesh dependency of the results. Evaluating overall damage when multiple criteria are active: The overall damage variable, D, captures the combined effect of all active mechanisms and is computed in terms of individual damage variables, , for each mechanism. You can choose to combine some of the damage variables in a multiplicative sense to form an intermediate variable, , as follows:

Then, the overall damage variable is computed as the maximum of variables:

and the remaining damage

In the above expressions and represent the sets of active mechanisms that contribute to the overall damage in a multiplicative and a maximum sense, respectively, with .

Input File Usage:

Use the following option to specify that the damage associated with a particular criterion contributes to the overall damage variable in a maximum sense (default):
*DAMAGE EVOLUTION, DEGRADATION=MAXIMUM

Use the following option to specify that the damage associated with a particular criterion contributes to the overall damage variable in a multiplicative sense:
*DAMAGE EVOLUTION, DEGRADATION=MULTIPLICATIVE

Defining damage evolution based on effective plastic displacement:

As discussed previously, once the damage initiation criterion has been reached, the effective plastic displacement, , is defined with the evolution equation

where L is the characteristic length of the element.

The evolution of the damage variable with the relative plastic displacement can be specified in tabular, linear, or exponential form. Instantaneous failure will occur if the plastic displacement at failure, care , is specified as 0; however, this choice is not recommended and should be used with

because it causes a sudden drop of the stress at the material point that can lead to dynamic instabilities.

Maximum degradation and choice of element removal:

You have control over how Abaqus treats elements with severe damage. You can specify an upper bound, , to the overall damage variable, D; and you can choose whether to delete an element once maximum degradation is reached. The latter choice also affects which stiffness components are damaged.
Specifying the value of maximum degradation: The default setting of depends on whether elements are to be deleted upon reaching maximum degradation (discussed next). For the default case of element deletion and in all cases for cohesive elements, ; otherwise, . The output variable SDEG contains the value of D. No further damage is accumulated at an integration point once D reaches (except, of course, any remaining stiffness is lost upon element deletion). Removing the element from the mesh: Elements are deleted by default upon reaching maximum degradation. Except for cohesive elements with traction-separation response.

Abaqus applies damage to all stiffness components equally for elements that may eventually be removed:

In Abaqus/Standard an element is removed from the mesh if D reaches at all of the section points at all the integration locations of an element except for cohesive elements (for cohesive elements the conditions for element deletion are that D reaches at all integration points and, for traction-separation response, none of the integration points are in compression). In Abaqus/Explicit an element is removed from the mesh if D reaches at all of the section points at any one integration location of an element except for cohesive elements (for cohesive elements the conditions for element deletion are that D reaches at all integration points and, for traction-separation response, none of the integration points are in compression). For example, removal of a solid element takes place, by default, when maximum degradation is reached at any one integration point. However, in a shell element all through-the-thickness section points at any one integration location of an element must fail before the element is removed from the mesh. In the case of second-order reduced-integration beam elements, reaching maximum degradation at all section points through the thickness at either of the two element integration locations along the beam axis leads, by default, to element removal. Similarly, in modified triangular and tetrahedral solid elements
7

and fully integrated membrane elements D reaching default, to element removal.

at any one integration point leads, by

In a heat transfer analysis the thermal properties of the material are not affected by the progressive damage of the material stiffness until the condition for element deletion is reached; at this point the thermal contribution of the element is also removed.
Keeping the element in the computations

Optionally, you may choose not to remove the element from the mesh, except in the case of threedimensional beam elements. With element deletion turned off, the overall damage variable is enforced to be . The default value is if element deletion is turned off, which ensures that elements will remain active in the simulation with a residual stiffness of at least 1% of the original stiffness. The dimensionality of the stress state of the element affects which stiffness components can become damaged, as discussed below. In a heat transfer analysis the thermal properties of the material are not affected by damage of the material stiffness.
Input File Usage: Use the following option to keep the element in the computation:
*SECTION CONTROLS, ELEMENT DELETION=NO

Elements with three-dimensional stress states in Abaqus/Explicit

For elements with three-dimensional stress states (including generalized plane strain elements) the shear stiffness will be degraded up to a maximum value, , leading to softening of the deviatoric stress components. The bulk stiffness, however, will be degraded only while the material is subjected to negative pressures (i.e., hydrostatic tension); there is no bulk degradation under positive pressures. This corresponds to a fluid-like behavior. Therefore, the degraded deviatoric, , and pressure, p, stresses are computed as

where the deviatoric and volumetric damage variables are given as

In this case the output variable SDEG contains the value of

Elements with three-dimensional stress states in Abaqus/Standard

For elements with three-dimensional stress states (including generalized plane strain elements) the stiffness will be degraded uniformly until the maximum degradation, , is reached. Output variable SDEG contains the value of D.
Elements with plane stress states

For elements with a plane stress formulation (plane stress, shell, continuum shell, and membrane elements) the stiffness will be degraded uniformly until the maximum degradation, , is reached. Output variable SDEG contains the value of D.
Elements with one-dimensional stress states

For elements with a one-dimensional stress state (i.e., truss elements, rebar, and cohesive elements with gasket behavior) their only stress component will be degraded if it is positive (tension). The material stiffness will remain unaffected under compression loading. The stress is, therefore, given by , where the uniaxial damage variable is computed as

In this case determines the maximum allowed degradation in uniaxial tension ( variable SDEG contains the value of .

). Output

Defining damage evolution based on energy dissipated during the damage process
You can specify the fracture energy per unit area, , to be dissipated during the damage process directly. Instantaneous failure will occur if is specified as 0. However, this choice is not recommended and should be used with care because it causes a sudden drop in the stress at the material point that can lead to dynamic instabilities. The evolution in the damage can be specified in linear or exponential form.
Linear form

Assume a linear evolution of the damage variable with plastic displacement. You can specify the fracture energy per unit area, . Then, once the damage initiation criterion is met, the damage variable increases according to

where the equivalent plastic displacement at failure is computed as 9

and is the value of the yield stress at the time when the failure criterion is reached. Therefore, the model becomes equivalent to that shown in Figure 23.2.32(b). The model ensures that the energy dissipated during the damage evolution process is equal to only if the effective response of the material is perfectly plastic (constant yield stress) beyond the onset of damage.

10