Prediction of fracture in metallic plates based on the phase-field approach

Studying the failure of ductile materials is crucial for designing engineering structures. Ductile failure, associated with plastic deformation, makes failure analysis complex and computationally expensive. This study aims to analyze the fracture of cracked/notched ductile plates with different geometries and loading conditions (mode I, mixed mode I/II, and mode II), resulting in 41 analyses. First, it employs concepts that equate ductile materials with brittle ones. Then, these concepts are combined with the phase-field method (PFM) applied to brittle fracture to predict the fracture behavior of weakened metallic plates. Based on material properties, we couple the PFM with the equivalent material concept (EMC), the modified EMC (MEMC), and the fictitious material concept (FMC) to predict fracture load and initiation angle. The numerical results are validated with available experimental data, demonstrating that the proposed framework accurately predicts the fracture of ductile materials, with an accuracy of ±10 %. Additionally, the proposed approach has demonstrated superiority over other methods for predicting the fracture load of ductile plates, including average strain energy density (ASED), mean stress (MS), and maximum tangential stress (MTS).