An anisotropic phase-field model based on the equivalent crack surface energy density at finite strain

The promising phase-field method has been intensively studied and demonstrated to provide reliable predictions of structural failure. Motivated by experimental findings, the fracture patterns within several engineering materials are characterized as anisotropic, and are governed by the elastic and the fracture properties simultaneously. In this work, a physically anisotropic phase-field model is developed at finite strain in the framework of the second order phase-field theory. By using only one phase-field variable to evaluate the fracture status of the homogenized matrix and fiber materials simultaneously, an equivalent crack surface energy density function is established. Furthermore, the constitutive relations of the coupled problem are consistently derived by a straightforward variational principle, and are subsequently implemented into the context of the Finite Element Method. To demonstrate the capabilities of this approach, representative examples are studied and discussed. Consequently, corresponding findings and potential perspectives close this paper. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.