Concrete failure based on a localizing gradient‐enhanced damage formulation coupled with plasticity

Abstract

Investigations of the mechanical behavior of concrete, including plastic deformability and failure mechanisms, have always been of vital importance. In this work, a modified yield criterion with three surfaces is proposed to capture the plastic yielding behavior under different loading conditions. The failure, that is, the gradual degradation and the final loss of material integrity, can be described through a damage concept. For the purpose of robust finite element (FE) implementations as well as the failure description at an appropriate scale, a localizing gradient‐enhanced damage model has been adopted. As such, one obtains mesh‐insensitive material responses, while ruling out the unphysical damage broadening observed in conventional gradient‐enhanced damage models with a constant regularization length. Following a consistent derivation, the plasticity‐damage coupled model is implemented into an in‐house FE framework, based on which an experiment‐inspired example is simulated to illustrate the capability of the proposed description in concrete modeling, especially the mixed‐mode failure. Lastly, the conclusion provides some final insights.