Boundary effect on weight function in nonlocal damage model

Some insights on boundary effects in nonlocal damage modelling are addressed. Interaction stresses that are at the origin of nonlocality are expected to vanish at the boundary of a solid, in the normal direction to this boundary. Existing models do not account for such an effect. We introduce tentative modifications of the classical nonlocal damage model aimed at accounting for this boundary layer effect in a continuum modelling setting. Computations show that some nonnegligible differences may be observed between the classical and modified formulations. In a one dimensional spalling test, only the modified formulation provides a spall of finite nonzero thickness, whereas spalls smaller than the internal length cannot be obtained according to the original formulation. For the same set of model parameters, including the internal length, the fracture energy derived from the size effect test method is also very different according to both approaches. Parameters in the size effect laws for notched and unnotched specimens, obtained from computation of geometrically similar bending beams, are more consistent with the modified nonlocal model compared to the original nonlocal formulation. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.