Anisotropic damage law of evolution

A formulation for anisotropic damage is established in the framework of the principle of strain equivalence. The damage variable is still related to the surface density of microcracks and microvoids and, as its evolution is governed by the plastic strain, it is represented by a second order tensor and is orthotropic. The coupling of damage with elasticity is written through a tensor on the deviatoric part of the energy and through a scalar taken as its trace on the hydrostatic part. The kinetic law of damage evolution is an extension of the isotropic case. Here, the principal components of the damage rate tensor are proportional to the absolute value of principal components of the plastic strain rate tensor and are a nonlinear function of the effective elastic strain energy. The proposed damage evolution law does not introduce any other material parameter. Several series of experiments on metals give a good validation of this theory. The coupling of damage with plasticity and the quasi-unilateral conditions of partial closure of microcracks naturally derive from the concept of effective stress. Finally, a study of strain localization makes it possible to determine the critical value of the damage at mesocrack initiation. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques ct medicales Elsevier SAS.