A continuum approach to the numerical simulation of material failure in geomaterials

J. OLIVER; A.E HUESPE; E. SAMANIEGO; E. CHAVES

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS

JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD

Año: 2004 vol. 28 p. 609 - 632

0363-9061

Some new aspects of the continuum strong discontinuity approach (CSDA) to model material failure in geomaterials are addressed. A new global algorithm, for tracking multiple crack lines/surfaces in 2D/3D cases is proposed. It is based on solving a simple heat conduction-like problem accompanying the standard mechanical algorithm. A viscous perturbation method on the crack surface is also proposed to remedy the instabilities caused by mutual interactions of multiple developing cracks. A simple procedure to compute the critical time step that ensures algorithmic uniqueness is then provided. Numerical simulations of two and three-dimensional problems displaying a multi-crack pattern are finally presented