A regularized phenomenological multiscale damage model

Abstract

SUMMARY We present a regularized phenomenological multiscale model where elastic properties are computed using direct homogenization and subsequently evolved using a simple three‐parameter orthotropic continuum damage model. The salient feature of the model is a unified regularization framework based on the concept of effective softening strain. The unified regularization scheme has been employed in the context of constitutive law rescaling and the staggered nonlocal approach. We show that an element erosion technique for crack propagation when exercised with one of the two regularization schemes (1) possesses a characteristic length, (2) is consistent with fracture mechanics approach, and (3) does not suffer from pathological mesh sensitivity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.