Energy release control for numerical simulations of failure in quasi-brittle solids

A path-following constraint is developed which is based on the energy release during failure. This makes it applicable to the simulation of quasi-brittle materials when no previous knowledge is available on the failure behaviour of a body and, consequently, indirect displacement control methods like CMOD cannot be applied. The constraint is derived from the first principle of thermodynamics for a finite-element discretization of a solid with a continuum damage model. The performance of the constraint is demonstrated by means of a bending test on a single-edge-notched beam. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.