Failure model for heterogeneous structures using structured meshes and accounting for probability aspects

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the inelastic behavior of heterogeneous structures within the framework of finite element modelling, by taking into the related probabilistic aspects of heterogeneities.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper shows how to construct the structured FE mesh representation for the failure modelling for such structures, by using a building‐block of a constant stress element which can contain two different phases and phase interface. All the modifications which are needed to enforce for such an element in order to account for inelastic behavior in each phase and the corresponding inelastic failure modes at the phase interface are presented.

Findings

It is demonstrated by numerical examples that the proposed structured FE mesh approach is much more efficient from the non‐structured mesh representation. This feature is of special interest for probabilistic analysis, where a large amount of computation is needed in order to provide the corresponding statistics. One such case of probabilistic analysis is considered in this work where the geometry of the phase interface is obtained as the result of the Gibbs random process.

Originality/value

The paper confirms that one can make the most appropriate interpretation of the heterogeneous structure properties by taking into account the fine details of the internal structure, along with the related probabilistic aspects with the proper source of randomness, such as the one addressed herein in terms of porosity.

Citation

Hautefeuille, M., Melnyk, S., Colliat, J.B. and Ibrahimbegovic, A. (2009), "Failure model for heterogeneous structures using structured meshes and accounting for probability aspects", Engineering Computations, Vol. 26 No. 1/2, pp. 166-184. https://doi.org/10.1108/02644400910924852