Ductile Fracture - Gradient Regularization

Abstract

Nuclear weapons alteration (ALT) and life extension programs (LEP) are of primary interest to the mission of Sandia National Laboratories. These programs continue to require experimental exploration and computational simulation of ductile failure scenarios to address qualification. Therefore, we invest in generating understanding about ductile failure as demonstrated though experimental procedures and computational simulation of engineering environments. In particular, we study an approach to ductile failure that incorporates the notion of phase-field fracture into our models of inelasticity appropriate for structural alloys. This report covers the formulations of the constitutive model and fracture models used within the phase-field approach and provides some numerical examples highlighting features and the state of the capability.