CAN MULTISCALE-MULTIPHYSICS METHODS PREDICT SOFTENING DAMAGE AND STRUCTURAL FAILURE?

The possibility of replacing semiempirical constitutive laws with computationally intensive multiscale and multiphysics; simulations of complex material behavior on the mesoscale has led to exaggerated expectations. This brief paper shows that this has been the case for the simulation of softening material damage and fracture in quasi-brittle structures. It is argued that the problem of determining the material lengths on the mesoscale and trasmitting them to the macroscale would have to be mastered before realistic predictions of structural damage and failure could be expected.