Leclerc 2017
Leclerc 2017
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: The present paper investigates the suitability of a Discrete Element Method (DEM) to simulate cracks ini-
Received 24 June 2016 tiation and propagation in heterogeneous media. We focus our studies on the cohesive hybrid-particulate
Revised 3 November 2016
model in which the continuous medium is modeled using a cohesive beam model. Previous works ex-
Available online 18 November 2016
hibited the ability of such an approach to simulate the mechanical behavior of continuous materials un-
Keywords: der various solicitations. The DEM is actually well-suited to take into account local heterogeneities and
Discrete Element Method complex fracture phenomena occurring at very fine scales. In a first step, several tests are performed
Crack in the context of a 2D homogeneous medium in order to better quantify micro-macro scale transition
Composite materials effects related to the DEM on cracks initiation and propagation. Then, in a second step, unidirectional
Stress field fibre-reinforced composites are modeled using 2D models taking into account a brittle matrix failure and
Numerical modeling interfacial debonding effects. Numerical tensile tests are set up for two main configurations: a single-
fiber composite constituted of a single fiber embedded in an alumina matrix and the case of multi-fiber
composites constituted of parallel fibers also embedded in an alumina matrix. The results exhibit the
suitability of the DEM to yield suitable stress fields and crack patterns in the investigated heterogeneous
media. Scale transition effects are noticeable in terms of stress fields but turn out to be relatively limited
in the mechanism leading to cracks initiation and propagation. Furthermore, the competition between
debonding and failure is also well captured whatever the fiber arrangement.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2016.11.015
0020-7683/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
W. Leclerc et al. / International Journal of Solids and Structures 108 (2017) 98–114 99
multiple cracks propagation in the material. These methods are bending test and an indentation test are modeled and studied. In
mesh-dependent and require a costly remeshing to alleviate these each case, the variability is observed using stress fields determined
effects. Other approaches which can be qualified as meshless using Zhou’s formulation (Zhou, 2003) at the scale of the parti-
methods enable to consider crack propagation without represen- cle and using Love-Weber formulation (Nicot et al., 2013; Love,
tation of the crack’s topology. Thus, the cracking particles method 1927) at a mesoscale introduced with the help of a tessellation of
introduced by Rabczuk and Belytschko (20 04); 20 07) and later im- the domain in specimen (Nicot et al., 2013; Haddad et al., 2015).
proved to avoid local enrichment (Rabczuk et al., 2010) uses a con- In a second step, we investigate the case of composite materials.
tinuous description of the medium coupled to a discrete repre- Two main models are considered: a composite composed of a sin-
sentation of the discontinuity. Its advantage is to more naturally gle metallic fiber embedded in an alumina matrix and the case of
treat complex crack propagation but this is a priori less accurate parallel metallic fibers randomly embedded in an alumina matrix.
than methods based on embedded elements. Peridynamics (Silling, In this latter example, effects related to the arrangement of fibres
20 0 0) and its variants as the dual-horizon peridynamics (Ren et al., are also considered using closely-packed and dilute fiber arrays. In
2016) use a continuous description based on an integral formula- each configuration, tensile tests are modeled and the positive part
tion in order to avoid classical issues related to partial differen- of the hydrostatic stress field is observed before, during and after
tial equations. In this approach, forces applied to a particle are the crack initiation. For sake of clarity, only the matrix failure is
estimated by summing the contributions of a set of surrounding considered and fibers are supposed undamageable for each inves-
particles located in an area called horizon. Another class of meth- tigated case. Cracks propagation, variability effects, and the compe-
ods based on a particulate system also exists. Originally used in tition between matrix failure and interfacial debonding are finally
the field of rock mechanics (Cundall and Strack, 1979; Cleary and discussed.
Campbell, 1993), the DEM is an ideal tool for solving mechanical The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 is dedicated to
problems in which multiple scales and discontinuities arise. This the DEM based on the cohesive beam model which is designated
approach exhibits several similarities with the peridynamics since as the Cohesive Discrete Element Method (CDEM) in the sequel
the motion of a particle is also computed by summing the forces for more conciseness. Section 3 introduces the RDEF criterion de-
of neighboring particles. However, the DEM uses a discrete repre- scribing the matrix failure and the DDZM simulating the interfacial
sentation in the sense that all particles have to be modeled as in- debonding. Section 4 deals with the three numerical tests carried
dividual entities and requires to calibrate microscopic parameters. out in the context of a homogeneous medium. Finally, Section 5 is
In the last decade, the DEM was used in various domains dedicated to the modeling of tensile tests carried out on represen-
among them the simulation of tribological granular flows (Fillot tative patterns of composite materials.
et al., 2007), silo discharge (Nicot et al., 2013), impact effects on
concrete (Shiu et al., 2008), vickers indentation (Jebahi et al., 2013)
2. CDEM
and ball bearing loading (Machado et al., 2015). Besides, the DEM
was also considered for simulating cracks initiation and propaga-
The present section describes the CDEM as developed by
tion in continuous materials (Hentz et al., 2004; Tan et al., 2009;
Haddad et al. (2015) in 2D and André et al. (2012) in 3D. In this
André et al., 2013). In this domain, the most important challenge
approach a continuous medium is modeled by a granular pack-
was to develop a numerical model able to quantitatively repro-
ing consisted of disks in point contact in 2D (spheres in 3D) in
duce the multi-scale mechanical behavior of a continuous medium.
which the cohesion between two particles is itself modeled by a
Based on the works of Schlangen and Garboczi (1997), it was
beam element. Under several assumptions of size and isotropy, the
established that the cohesive beam model (André et al., 2012)
obtained hybrid particulate-lattice model can be designated as an
is more suitable than spring elements to model continuous me-
Equivalent Continuous Domain (ECD) the mechanical properties of
dia and its damaging under several mechanical loadings. Further-
which are related to those of beam elements using a calibration
more, recent works highlighted the ability of the cohesive beam
process.
model to simulate the mechanical behavior of heterogeneous ma-
terials throughout the examples of a unidirectional fibre compos-
ite (Maheo et al., 2015) and random media (Haddad et al., 2015). 2.1. ECD
The issue of cracks initiation and propagation in composites was
partially treated by Le et al. (2016) in the field of composite fibres. The CDEM is based on the discretization of a continuous
However, the authors only considered the cohesive beam model for medium by a granular packing composed of disks in point contact
modeling the matrix phase and more in-depth studies have to be in 2D. In the present work, granular packings are generated by the
performed to relate the mechanical behavior to the process leading efficient Lubachevsky–Stillinger Algorithm (LSA) (Lubachevsky and
to damaging and cracks propagation. Stillinger, 1990) which enables an accurate control of intrinsec pa-
In the present work, we aim to investigate the suitability of the rameters such as the compacity, the polydispersity, the coordina-
cohesive beam model to simulate cracks initiation and propaga- tion number and the randomness of contact angles. Under several
tion in heterogeneous media. Besides, we intend to better under- assumptions related to these parameters, the granular domain can
stand the influence of variability effects related to the micro-macro be then considered as an ECD in that this is enough representative
scale transition in the Discrete Element (DE) approach on the dam- of the continuous medium. First, the compacity in terms of volume
aging initiation and the crack propagation. For this purpose, we fraction has to be closed to 0.85 which corresponds to the Random
consider the Removed DE Failure (RDEF) criterion introduced by Close Packing (RCP) (Torquato et al., 20 0 0; Donev et al., 20 04) for a
André et al. (2013). We suppose a brittle fracture with a mode I random granular packing composed of circular particles in 2D. Sec-
crack propagation so that damaging occurs when the hydrostatic ond, the coordination number which represents the average num-
stress is greater than a given stress limit. Interfacial debonding ef- ber of particles in contact with one given particle has to be close
fects are also taken into account by the DDZM introduced by Liu to 4.5. Third, a slight polydispersity of particle size must be intro-
et al. (2012) and here adapted for discrete simulations. In a first duced in order to avoid undesirable directional effects. Typically,
step, several tests are performed in the context of a 2D homo- the particle’s radius follows a Gaussian distribution law and the
geneous material in order to better exhibit the micro-macro scale dispersion is characterized by the coefficient of variation which is
transition effects on the damaging process and their influence on the ratio between the standard deviation and the average radius.
crack propagation. Thus, a plate with a centered hole, a 3-point For information purposes, this is set to 0.3 in the present work.
100 W. Leclerc et al. / International Journal of Solids and Structures 108 (2017) 98–114
12Eμ Iμ
Kt = (3)
L3μ
Fig. 3. Influence of the microscopic parameters Eμ and rμ on (a) EM and (b) the Poisson’s ratio ν M .
3. Failure criterion and interfacial debonding Due to their strong ability to resist in compression, the rupture of
fragile materials almost always occur in traction even when sub-
The crack propagation is modeled using the failure criterion in- mitted to external compression solicitations as in the case of an
troduced by André et al. (2013) which is based on the stress tensor indentation test. This prevents the authors to consider a classical
given by Zhou’s formulation (Zhou, 2003). For heterogeneous me- Von-Mises stress criterion since this is positive and do not discrim-
dia, an interfacial model is derived from the works of Liu et al. inate traction and compression areas. That is why our choice is to
(2012) which consider a discrete damage zone for the FEM. consider that the fracture occurs when the hydrostatic stress which
is only positive for local tensile solicitations is greater than a given
3.1. Stress tensor stress limit σ lim :
Trace(σi ) = 2σlim (7)
Stress fields within the ECD are obtained using the Zhou’s for-
mulation which relates the equivalent stress tensor σ i of a particle Practically, the hydrostatic stress field is estimated at the scale
i to the internal cohesion forces as follows: of the particle i. When the criterion is reached, cohesive links be-
1 tween the particle i and the set of particles Zi are deleted and the
σi = fi j di j (5)
2 i particle i does not interact with the granular system anymore.
j∈Zi
where fij is the cohesion force vector applied to the particle i by 3.3. Interfacial debonding
a particle j, dij is the relative position vector between particles i
and j and Zi is the set of particles linked to the particle i. i is the Interfacial debonding occurring at the interface between two
area of representation of the particle i which is approximated by phases of a heterogeneous medium is taken into account using the
the following expression: DDZM described and used by Liu et al. (2012) for FE calculations.
Ai During DE simulations some links connect two particles belonging
i = (6) to two different phases and consequently make a bridge between
φ
each domain throughout . The main idea consists in replacing the
where Ai is the real area of the particle and φ is the volume frac- beam element describing such a link by a discrete interface ele-
tion of the granular system which is 0.85 in the present work ment introduced as a spring-like element of normal stiffness K n.
where granular packings meet the assumptions of an RCP. Thus, In this model, the displacement u n is related to the normal bond-
the area of representation is easily given by the multiplication of ing force Fn as follows:
the real area by a constant coefficient equal to 1.176.
F
n = Kn un (8)
3.2. Failure criterion where u
n is the normal displacement of the spring element. Two
regimes are considered: a linear elastic loading and an exponential
In the present work, we consider the RDEF process developed softening one which are illustrated in Fig. 4. In the first regime,
,c
by André et al. (2013) which is based on the deletion of a DE when when u n < un where u
n
,c
is the critical displacement, K
n is con-
a given criterion is reached. This choice is motivated by previous stant and equal to a given K n
,0
stiffness:
studies (André et al., 2013; Maheo et al., 2015) which highlighted
t = Dt min(tcrit
c
) (15)
c∈ζ
Fig. 5. Influence of (a) the number of particles and b) the time step on both the reaction force and the potential energy.
Fig. 6. σ xx stress field of the plate with hole (a) without triangular specimen b) with triangular specimens.
Fig. 7. Influence of (a) the number of particles and b) the time step on both the maximum stress and the values extracted from A and B positions.
sociated to B position do not tend to theoretical estimates. Fig. 7b of the particle and only stress values are estimated at the scale of
depicts the evolution of both the maximum stress and the values the specimen using the Love-Weber formulation (Nicot et al., 2013;
extracted from A and B positions as a function of the time step. Love, 1927). This is very similar to Eq. (5) except the area of repre-
Results exhibit that stress values do not depend on this parameter. sentation is now the area of the triangular specimen and the cohe-
The gaps observed in terms of positions and stress values are sion forces are now exerted by external particles linked to one or
due to microscopic scale effects which lead to local variabilities more particles located within the specimen. The number of trian-
in a DE approach. These effects are noticeable whatever the time gles has to be chosen in order to sufficiently smooth the solution
step and the number of particles. For comparison purposes, a third and avoid a loss of informations due to an excessive smoothing.
mesoscopic scale is introduced using triangular specimens (Haddad Fig. 8 shows the influence of the number of specimens on both
et al., 2015) which can be seen as representative elements of the the maximum stress and the values extracted from A and B posi-
medium. The idea is to tessellate the domain in triangular ele- tions. In the present study, all numerical outputs are obtained for
ments, each of them containing several DE and to evaluate the a number of particles set to 10,0 0 0 particles and a time step set
stress at the scale of the specimen rather than the scale of the par- to 3.5e−9 s. Two conclusions can be done. A too small number of
ticle. Please notice that the model remains computed at the scale specimens leads to underestimated σ xx stress values. Conversely, a
104 W. Leclerc et al. / International Journal of Solids and Structures 108 (2017) 98–114
the stress level is exactly the same for a bunch of particles belong-
ing to the same specimen which affects the continuity of the prop-
agation. A second crack initiates for a strength of about 880 N at
a point of coordinates (47.4 mm, 12.6 mm) located near B position
and propagates vertically. These findings exhibit that variability ef-
fects related to micro-macro scale transition in the DE approach
leads to only small variations on the position of cracks initiation.
However, the results also show that only the formulation of the
stress at the scale of the particle is able to reproduce a suitable
crack pattern in accordance with the assumption of brittle fracture
with a mode I crack propagation.(Fig. 10)
hole at a position (51.1 mm, 38.6 mm) and propagates vertically up Before starting more in-depth investigations, we intend to deter-
to the upper edge of the plate. At this juncture, the corresponding mine the influence of dynamic effects which are more prone to oc-
tensile strength is close to 850 N. Then a second crack initiates cur in the present case due to cylinder-cylinder contacts between
from the bottom of the hole at the position (51.4 mm; 12.4 mm) large and small DE. For this purpose, the beam is discretized by
for a strength of about 870 N and propagates vertically up to lower a granular packing constituted of about 3200 DE and 9300 links.
edge of the plate (see Fig. 9a). In a second study σ xx stress is now The time step is set to 2.5e−9 s which corresponds to a Dt param-
estimated at the scale of the triangular specimen. We consider a eter equal to 0.05 which is quite close to the value considered in
tessellation of the domain in 1500 triangular elements. A first crack the case of the plate with hole. Fig. 11a illustrates the influence
initiates at a point of coordinates (49.8 mm, 37.3 mm) located near of the real time on both applied and reaction forces. Please notice
A position for a strength of about 870 N which is quite close to the that the applied force is estimated by summing the contributions
previous value. However, a branching arises and two cracks finally of small particles in contact with the large DE located on the up-
propagate as we can observe on Fig. 9b. In fact, in the present case, per face of the beam. Besides, the reaction force is estimated by
W. Leclerc et al. / International Journal of Solids and Structures 108 (2017) 98–114 105
Fig. 11. Influence of the real time on (a) both applied and reaction forces and b) both potential and kinetic energies.
Fig. 12. σ xx stress field of the beam (a) without triangular specimen b) with triangular specimens.
summing the contribution of each support. One can notice that the ical estimate given by Euler–Bernoulli beam model. However, the
applied force oscillates around a mean value of 10 N even though stress value at A position remains underestimated with a value of
this directly applied to the large DE is constant. A Rayleigh damp- 4.91e7 Pa. In the second case, the maximum σ xx stress is largely
ing model is used in the present approach in order to reduce these overestimated with a value of 8.85e7 Pa but the stress extracted
effects so that oscillations decrease in amplitude over time. The at A position which is 6.65e7 Pa is in good agreement with the
reaction force follows the same behavior with a larger amplitude. theoretical reference. Besides, the maximum value remains located
Fig. 11b shows the evolution of both potential and kinetic energy near A position in both configurations. These results highlight the
as a function of the real time. The potential energy follows the evo- variability effects related to micro-macro scale transition in a DE
lution of the applied force with the same decrease in amplitude approach which have been already observed in the previous case
over time so that it tends to a mean value of 1.81e−4 J. The kinetic of the plate with a hole. In order to smooth out these fluctua-
energy decreases over time and becomes negligible, i.e. less than tions, we consider a mescoscopic scale described by a tessellation
1e−8 J, for a real time higher than 5e−3 s. This value is the total of the domain in 400 triangular specimen each of them containing
duration necessary to avoid dynamic effects which could affect our about 8 particles. Fig. 12b illustrates the σ xx stress field given by
numerical outputs. DE calculations with the set of specimens and the granular packing
Fig. 12 a illustrates the σ xx stress field given by DE calculations composed of 3200 particles. Results exhibit lower extrema since
at the scale of the particle. Results exhibit an expected antisym- maximum and minimum values are respectively equal to 6.90e7 Pa
metric field in the cross-section of the beam with maximum and and −7.08e7 Pa which are quite close to the theoretical maximum
minimum values respectively equal to 7.58e7 Pa and −7.50e7 Pa stress given by Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. However, small fluc-
which slightly overestimate the theoretical reference. Besides, the tuations still remain since the normal stress at A position is now
maximum value is not located at A position but at another one 5.96e7 Pa and the maximum stress is obtained for a DE the center
of coordinates (40.56 mm; 0.19 mm) near A position where the of which has coordinates (38.85 mm; 0 mm). Other calculations
normal stress is only 4.68e7 Pa. For comparison purposes, other performed for 600 and 800 specimens exhibit similar results with
calculations are performed using two other granular packings re- a normal stress at A position respectively equal to 6.18e7 Pa and
spectively composed of 1600 and 8000 particles with a set Dt pa- 6.44e7 Pa. The maximum value is even higher, namely 9.40e8 Pa
rameter equal to 0.05. In the first case, the estimated maximum and 9.83e8 Pa respectively. In order to more reduce these scale
σ xx stress value is 6.67e7 Pa which is quite close to the theoret- effects, a larger number of particles within each specimen has to
106 W. Leclerc et al. / International Journal of Solids and Structures 108 (2017) 98–114
Table 1
Properties of each phase.
Fig. 15. (a) Positive hydrostatic stress field and (b) Von-Mises stress field within the silica sample.
hibit a maximum value located near the area of contact between that local links loaded in traction could be located in compression
the indenter and the silica sample. This is 2.09 GPa which is much areas and affect the results. Fig. 16a and b illustrate the network of
higher than the maximum positive hydrostatic stress value and links obtained after cracking for the bond-based model proposed
highlights the important compression stresses undergone by the in the present work and the RDEF criterion without particle ejec-
medium. We remind that the failure of the silica due to a compres- tion. Please keep in mind that red links are simple contacts ruled
sion loading is rarely observed which is explained by a very high by Hertz’s law and black links are cohesive contacts. One can no-
compressive strength which is not well-known. Comparisons are tice that both approaches lead to satisfying locations of crack ini-
carried out with the Hertz theory for a cylinder-plane contact in tiation even though the second model yields initiation positions
order to validate these results. According to this theory, the maxi- quite remote of the contact area. Besides, cracks initiate for the
mum pressure Pmax reads: same reaction force of 270 mN which is in good agreement with
2F numerical and experimental measurements given by André et al.
Pmax = (21) (2013). For information purposes, the reaction force is here esti-
π ab
mated by summing the contributions of particles in contact with
where a is the half-width of the rectangular area in contact with
the indenter. However, both models do not yield a suitable crack-
the indentor which reads:
ing pattern. Thus, the bond-based approach leads to vertical cracks
4FR and the RDEF criterion without particle ejection leads to a kind of
a= (22)
π bE∗ Hertzian cone with undesirable branchings.
Fig. 17 a illustrates the cracking pattern obtained using the
Thus, in the present configuration, Pmax and a values given by the
RDEF criterion with particle ejection for the same granular packing
Hertz theory are respectively equal to 2.44 GPa and 6.53e−7 m.
composed of 6600 DE. Results exhibit the initiation of two cracks
During DE calculations, 22 elementary contacts occur between the
at both sides of the indenter on the upper face of the silica sample
indenter and the sample. The half-width given by the numerical
for a reaction force of 270 mN. Cracks propagate obliquely up to a
approach can be approximated by summing the diameters of the
reaction force of 285 mN for a total duration of 2.1e−8 s. One can
set of DE in contact with the indenter and dividing by two the re-
observe a conical geometry the parameters of which are:
sult. This leads to a numerical half-width of 1.08e−6 m which is
slightly higher than the theoretical reference. The maximum pres- • the conical angle α = 28.6◦ /31.4°
sure given by the numerical approach is extracted of σ yy stress • the length of the crack c = 8.7 μm/9.4 μm
field on the upper edge of silica sample. This is 2.26 GPa which • the cone width d = 10.9 μm
is quite close to the theoretical value. These findings exhibit the • the half-width of the contact area a = 2.3 μm
good adequation between the numerical approach and the theory.
A constant velocity v = 0.3 m s−1 is now imposed to the inden- The obtained 2D conical geometry can be related to the 3D
ter. Our objective is to investigate the influence of several parame- Hertzian cone well-known in quasi-static indentation of brittle ma-
ters related to the DEM on the cracking pattern. For that purpose, terials. The set of parameters as well as the reaction force leading
the silica sample is discretized by a granular packing composed of to cracks initiation are quite close to numerical and experimen-
6600 particles and 19,500 links. The time step is set to 2.1e−12 s tal values given by Andrè et al. for the same mechanical parame-
which corresponds to a Dt parameter equal to 0.05. In a first step, ters and an equivalent geometrical configuration. Even though the
we aim to study the influence of the failure criterion. Three models cylindrical geometry of the indenter reduces the relevance of such
are considered. The first approach is a bond-based criterion based a comparison, we can nevertheless conclude that the RDEF crite-
on the deletion of a bond rather than a particle when a given hy- rion leads to suitable qualitative crack patterns in the present in-
drostatic stress level is reached. In this model, the stress associated dentation test. In order to investigate the influence of the size of
to the bond is obtained as the geometric mean of values given by the particle, the same simulation is now performed for a gran-
both particles in contact. The second approach is the RDEF crite- ular packing composed of 11,0 0 0 DE and 32,400 cohesive links.
rion for which the particle is not ejected but kept in the simula- Fig. 17 illustrates the corresponding cracking pattern. One can ob-
tion as debris after deleting the bonds. The third approach is the serve a 2D conical geometry the characteristics of which are quite
RDEF criterion as described in Section 3.2. Please notice that for similar to the previous ones except for the cone width d which is
each study case the stress is estimated at the scale of the DE using now 15.4 μm and closer to the experimental value. Cracks initiate
the Zhou’s formulation (Zhou, 2003). Moreover, a fourth approach, for the same reaction force of 240 mN. Thus, the particle size has
the bond-based Rankine criterion has also been investigated in the little effect on geometric parameters of the cracking pattern. Other
works of André et al. (2013). The authors only considered the rup- tests have also been performed to determine the influence of the
ture of cohesive links when the beam is loaded in traction and not applied velocity and the time step using the granular packing com-
in compression. Thus, their simulations highlighted suitable loca- posed of 6600 particles. To this end, the Dt was varied from 0.005
tions of crack initiation but vertical propagations. We hypothesize to 0.25 and the velocity was varied from 0.03 to 10 m s−1 . Re-
108 W. Leclerc et al. / International Journal of Solids and Structures 108 (2017) 98–114
Fig. 16. Network of links after cracking: (a) case of a bond-based failure mode and (b) case of the RDEF criterion without particle ejection.
Fig. 17. Cracking pattern obtained using the RDEF criterion with particle ejection (a) for a granular packing composed of 6600 DE and (b) for a granular packing composed
of 11,0 0 0 DE.
5. Heterogenous media
We investigate the case of a single metallic fiber embedded exist between a DE belonging to the matrix phase and a DE be-
in a brittle alumina matrix. Fig. 18 illustrates the heterogeneous longing to the fiber one. These are associated to the interface .
medium modeled by a 2D square pattern of length L = 0.1 m Both phases follow a linear elastic behavior and are modeled by
constituted of one centered inclusion of radius R = L/4. The dis- the CDEM in which DE are connected by cohesive beams. This is
cretization level of the ECD describing the square pattern is ob- consistent with the stress field predicted by DE calculations within
tained according to preliminary studies performed in a previous the fiber the maximum value of which always remains lower than
work (Haddad et al., 2015). Thus, a granular packing constituted the elasticity limit of a classical metal such as aluminum. Elastic
of 80 0 0 particles and about 2320 links is generated which ensures properties of each phase are given in Table 2. In present studies,
the mass conservation and the isotropy of the domain. Each parti- the stress limit of the metal is assumed infinite so that no damage
cle is associated to one phase according to the position of its cen- occurs within the fiber. The rupture of brittle alumina matrix is
ter outside or inside the inclusion. The repartition is as follows: modeled using the RDEF criterion based on the hydrostatic stress
about 6400 particles belong to the matrix and about 1600 parti- field evaluated at the scale of the particle. The behavior of the in-
cles to the single fiber. About 1740 cohesive links connect two DE terface is ruled by the DDZM discussed in Section 3.3. In other
belonging to the matrix phase and about 440 cohesive links con- words, a link associated to is modeled by a spring-like element
nect two DE belonging to the fiber phase. Besides, about 140 links the normal stiffness Kn
,0
of which is chosen equal to the geometric
W. Leclerc et al. / International Journal of Solids and Structures 108 (2017) 98–114 109
Fig. 19. Positive hydrostatic stress field obtained using (a) DE calculations and (b) FE Calculations: case of the single fiber.
Table 3
Hydrostatic stress values at A, B and C positions.
DE predictions without specimen 53.2 MPa 13.5 MPa 3.47 MPa 123 MPa
DE predictions with specimens 67.6 MPa 13.2 MPa 3.47 MPa 74.5 MPa
FE predictions 69.9 MPa 14.7 MPa 1.95 MPa 69.9 MPa
Fig. 20. Cracking pattern and debonding area for (a) C = 0.25 and (b) C = 4.
Fig. 22. 2D square patterns of (a) a closely-packed fiber composite and (b) a randomly dilute fiber composite.
Fig. 23. Positive hydrostatic stress field obtained using (a) DE calculations and (b) FE Calculations: case of the closely-packed fiber composite.
Table 4
Hydrostatic stress values at A, B, C and D positions.
DE predictions without specimen 18.4 MPa 14.6 MPa −1.27 MPa 71.0 MPa 128 MPa
DE predictions with specimens 23.8 MPa 14.6 MPa −0.665 MPa 68.6 MPa 76.1 MPa
FE predictions 22.8 MPa 17.8 MPa −1.03 MPa 60.7 MPa 85.7 MPa
Fig. 24. Positive hydrostatic stress field and interfacial debonding within the closely-packed fibre composite at time (a) t = 1.33e−4 s, (b) t = 1.44e−4 s and (c) t = 1.60e−4 s.
112 W. Leclerc et al. / International Journal of Solids and Structures 108 (2017) 98–114
Fig. 26. Positive hydrostatic stress field obtained using (a) DE calculations and (b) FE Calculations: case of the randomly dilute fiber composite.
W. Leclerc et al. / International Journal of Solids and Structures 108 (2017) 98–114 113
Table 5
Hydrostatic stress values at A, B and C positions.
DE predictions without specimen 1.90 MPa 49.5 MPa 26.2 MPa 140 MPa
DE predictions with specimens 2.64 MPa 55.6 MPa 22.9 MPa 87.2 MPa
FE predictions 2.23 MPa 56.3 MPa 25.4 MPa 75.7 MPa
Fig. 27. Positive hydrostatic stress field within the randomly dilute fibre composite at time (a) t = 1.42e−4 s and (b) t = 1.58e−4 s.
Conflicts of interest Maheo, L., Dau, F., André, D., Charles, J.L., Iordanoff, I., 2015. A promising way to
model cracks in composite using discrete element method. Compos. Part B 71,
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