Comment on Hyperbolicity of Wave Problem for Valanis’ Global Damage Theory
In a very interesting and stimulating recent paper, Valanis (199l) proposed a new type of nonlocal damage theory, called the global damage theory. Some conclusions of this paper, however, require further analysis, which is the purpose of this technical note. Offering as motivation some questionable and unfounded critical comments on the nonlocal damage theory originally proposed by Pijaudier-Cabot and Baiant (1987) and Baiant and Pijaudier-Cabot ( 1988), Valanis formulated a different theory and cltrimed it to be superior because, as he stated, it exhibits unconditional hyperbolicity of the wave problem. On closer scrutiny, though, Valanis' claim is found to be invalid, and for further development of nonlocal damage models it is important to understand why.
Nonlocal damage theory
In the usual local finite element analysis, strain softening causes spurious mesh sensitivity and incorrect convergence when the element is refined to vanishing size. In a previous continuum formulation, these incorrect features were overcome by the imbricate nonlocal continuum, which, however, introduced some unnecessary computational complications due to the fact that all response was treated as nonlocal. The key idea of the present nonlocal damage theory is to subject to nonlocal treatment only those variables that control strain softening, and to treat the elastic part of the strain as local. The continuum damage mechanics formulation, convenient for separating the nonlocal treatment of damage from the local treatment of elastic behavior, is adopted in the present work. The only required modification is to replace the usual local damage energy release rate with its spatial average over the representative volume of the material whose size is a characteristic of the material. Avoidance of spurious mesh ...
Finite element modeling of crack band propagation
The propagation of blunt smeared crack bands through a finite element mesh in plain or reinforced concrete. structures is studied. A previous work, which demonstrated (approximate) independence of results from the chosen mesh size, is extended by demonstrating the same for the changes in mesh orientation with regard to the crack band and to the steel bars. Bond slip of bars must also be considered. This is satisfactorily accomplished by extending the previously proposed concept of free bond slip length for the cases of skew meshes and skew bars. In the presence of reinforcement, the previous formula for the equivalent strength giving approximately the same results as the energy criterion must be expanded by a term which corresponds to the third term of the asymptotic expansion of displacements near the tip of a sharp crack. The energy criterion is shown to give consistent results for different types of fracture specimens. However, the equivalent strength calibrated for the center‐cracked tensile specimen ...