Miguel Patrcio

CMUC
Polytechnic Institute of Leiria
School of Technology and Management

Composites
consist
of
two
or
more
(chemically
or
physically)
different
constituents that are bonded together along
interior material interfaces and do not
dissolve or blend into each other.

Idea: by putting together the right

ingredients, in the right way, a material
with a better performance can be
obtained
Examples of applications:
Airplanes
Spacecrafts
Solar panels
Racing car bodies
Bicycle frames
Fishing rods
Storage tanks

Why is cracking of composites worthy

of attention?

Even microscopic flaws

may cause seemingly
safe structures to fail

Replacing
components
of
engineering
structures is often too
expensive and may be
unnecessary
It is important to predict
whether and in which
manner failure might
occur

Fracture of composites can be

regarded at different lengthscales

Microscopic

Mesoscopic

Macroscopic

(atomistic)

10-10

10-6

10-3

10-1

LENGTHSCALES

102

Fracture of composites can be

regarded at different lengthscales

Microscopic

Mesoscopic

Macroscopic

(atomistic)

10-10

10-6

10-3

10-1

Continuum Mechanics

LENGTHSCALES

102

plate with pre-existent crack

Meso-structure; linear elastic components

Goal: determine
crack path

Macroscopic

Mesoscopic
(matrix+inclusions)

It is possible to replace the mesoscopic structure with

a corresponding homogenised structure (averaging
process)

homogenisation

Mesoscopic

Macroscopic

Will a crack propagate on a homogeneous

(and isotropic) medium?

Alan Griffith gave an answer for an infinite plate with a

centre through elliptic flaw:

the crack will propagate if the strain energy release

rate G during crack growth is large enough to exceed
the rate of increase in surface energy R associated
with the formation of new crack surfaces, i.e.,

where
is the strain energy released in
the formation of a crack of length
a
is the corresponding surface
energy increase

How will a crack propagate on a

homogeneous (and isotropic) medium?
y

Crack tip

In the vicinity of a crack tip, the tangential

stress
is given by:

How will a crack propagate on a

homogeneous (and isotropic) medium?
y

Crack tip

In the vicinity of a crack tip, the tangential

stress
is given by:

How will a crack propagate on a

homogeneous (and isotropic) medium?
y

Maximum circumferential tensile stress

(local) criterion:
Crack growth will occur if the circumferential stress
intensity factor equals or exceeds a critical value, ie.,

Direction of propagation:
Crack growth occurs in the direction that maximises
the circumferential stress intensity factor

Crack tip

An incremental approach may be set up

The starting point is a homogeneous plate with
a pre-existent crack

load the plate;

solve elasticity problem;

An incremental approach may be set up

The starting point is a homogeneous plate with
a pre-existent crack

load the plate;

solve elasticity problem;

...thus determining:

An incremental approach may be set up

The starting point is a homogeneous plate with
a pre-existent crack

load the plate;

solve elasticity problem;

check propagation
criterion;
If criterion is met

compute the direction of

propagation;

increment crack
(update geometry);

Incremental approach to predict whether

and how crack propagation may occur

The mesoscale effects are not fully taken

into consideration

In Basso et all (2010) the fracture toughness

of dual-phase austempered ductile iron was
analysed at the mesoscale, using finite
element modelling.

A typical model geometry consisted of a 2D

plate, containing graphite nodules and LTF
zones

Basso, A.; Martnez, R.; Cisilino, A. P.; Sikora, J.: Experimental and numerical assessment of fracture toughness of dual-phase austempered ductile iron,
Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures, 33, pp. 1-11, 2010

Macrostructure

Mesostructure

Basso, A.; Martnez, R.; Cisilino, A. P.; Sikora, J.: Experimental and numerical assessment of fracture toughness of dual-phase austempered ductile iron,
Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures, 33, pp. 1-11, 2010

Macrostructure

Results

Basso, A.; Martnez, R.; Cisilino, A. P.; Sikora, J.: Experimental and numerical assessment of fracture toughness of dual-phase austempered ductile iron,
Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures, 33, pp. 1-11, 2010

number of graphite nodules in model: 113

number of LTF zones in model: 31
Models were solved using Abaqus/Explicit
(numerical package) running on a Beowulf
Cluster with 8 Pentium 4 PCs

Macrostructure

Computational issues

Basso, A.; Martnez, R.; Cisilino, A. P.; Sikora, J.: Experimental and numerical assessment of fracture toughness of dual-phase austempered ductile iron,
Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures, 33, pp. 1-11, 2010

In Zhu et all (2002) a numerical simulation

on the shear fracture process of concrete
was performed:
The mesoscopic elements in the specimen must be
relatively small enough to reflect the mesoscopic
mechanical properties of materials under the conditions
that the current computer is able to perform this analysis
because the number of mesoscopic elements is
substantially limited by the computer capacity

Zhu W.C.; Tang C.A.: Numerical simulation on shear fracture process of concrete using mesoscopic mechanical model,
Construction and Building Materials, 16(8), pp. 453-463(11), 2002

In Zhu et all (2002) a numerical simulation

on the shear fracture process of concrete
was performed:
The mesoscopic elements in the specimen must be
relatively small enough to reflect the mesoscopic
mechanical properties of materials under the conditions
that the current computer is able to perform this analysis
because the number of mesoscopic elements is
substantially limited by the computer capacity

Zhu W.C.; Tang C.A.: Numerical simulation on shear fracture process of concrete using mesoscopic mechanical model,
Construction and Building Materials, 16(8), pp. 453-463(11), 2002

How will a crack propagate on a material

with a mesoscopic structure?

Elasticity problem

Propagation problem

Elasticity problem

- Cauchys equation of motion

Propagation problem
- On a homogeneous material, the crack
will propagate if

- Kinematic equations

- Constitutive equations

- If it does propagate, it will do so in

the direction that maximises the
circumferential stress intensity factor

+ boundary conditions
many inclusions
implies
high computational costs

the crack
Interacts with
the inclusions

Hybrid approach

Homogenisable

Schwarz
(overlapping
domain
decomposition
scheme)

Critical region
where
fracture
Patrcio, M.; Mattheij, R. M. M.; de With, G.: Solutions for periodically distributed materials with localized imperfections;
occurs
CMES Computer
Modeling in Engineering and Sciences, 38(2), pp. 89-118, 2008

Hybrid approach

Homogenisable

Critical region
where
fracture
Patrcio, M.; Mattheij, R. M. M.; de With, G.: Solutions for periodically distributed materials with localized imperfections;
occurs
CMES Computer
Modeling in Engineering and Sciences, 38(2), pp. 89-118, 2008

Hybrid approach

Homogenisable

Critical region
where
fracture
Patrcio, M.; Mattheij, R. M. M.; de With, G.: Solutions for periodically distributed materials with localized imperfections;
occurs
CMES Computer
Modeling in Engineering and Sciences, 38(2), pp. 89-118, 2008

Hybrid approach algorithm

Patrcio, M.; Mattheij, R. M. M.; de With, G.: Solutions for periodically distributed materials with localized imperfections;
CMES Computer Modeling in Engineering and Sciences, 38(2), pp. 89-118, 2008

How does homogenisation work?

Reference cell
The material behaviour is characterised
by a tensor defined over the reference
cell

Assumptions:

Then the solution of the heterogeneous problem

Then the solution of the heterogeneous problem

converges to the solution of a homogeneous problem

weakly in

Four different composites plates

(matrix+circular inclusions)

Linear elastic, homogeneous, isotropic constituents

Computational domain is [0, 1] x [0,1]

Material parameters:
matrix:
inclusions:

The plate is pulled along

its upper and lower
boundaries with constant
unit stress

a) 25 inclusions,
periodic

c) 25 inclusions,
random

b) 100 inclusions
periodic

d) 100 inclusions
random

Homogenisation may be employed to approximate

the solution of the elasticity problems

Periodical distribution
of inclusions
Error
increases
Error decreases with number of inclusions
Random distribution
of inclusions

Highly heterogeneous composite with randomly distributed circular inclusions, submetido

Smaller
error

M. Patrcio: Highly heterogeneous composite with randomly distributed circular inclusions, submitted

plate (dimension 1x1)

pre-existing crack (length 0.01)

layered (micro)structure
E1=1, 1=0.1
E2=10, 2=0.3

plate (dimension 1x1)

pre-existing crack (length 0.01)

layered (micro)structure

Crack paths in composite materials; M. Patrcio, R. M. M. Mattheij, Engineering Fracture Mechanics (2010)

An iterative method for the prediction of crack propagation on highly heterogeneous media; M. Patrcio, M. Hochstenbach, submitted

Referenc
e

Approximation