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Description
The study of fracture mechanics is one of the most contemporary topics in engineering. Accurate prediction of the fracture phenomenon enables improvements in the design of structural elements, significantly impacting society through economic savings. Preventing fractures reduces repair costs, material loss, pollution from spills of environmentally impactful substances, and loss of life.
The development of computational technologies has directed the attention towards numerical models for the study of fracture. Among these, the phase-field model has gained prominence [1]. This mathematical model allows to capture interface phenomena by approximating a discontinuous interface in a continuous manner. Recently, it has been shown that this approximation can be achieved by employing high-order functionals in order to reduce the computational cost [2], discretizing the high-order operator by means of Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) [3].
In this contribution, the high-order AT2 phase-field model [4] is employed to investigate the numerical–experimental comparison for a case study involving an EN AW-6060 aluminum specimen, with the aim of qualitatively reproducing the experimental results through the crack pattern evolution and quantitatively capturing the maximum developed load.
[1] B. Bourdin, G. Francfort, and J.-J. Marigo, “Numerical experiments in revisited brittle fracture,”Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 797-826, 2000.
[2] L. Greco, E. Maggiorelli, M. Negri, A. Patton, and A. Reali, “AT1 fourth-order isogeometric phase-field modeling of brittle fracture,” Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences, vol. 35, no. 13, pp. 2741-2795, 2025.
[3] T. Hughes, J. Cottrell, and Y. Bazilevs, “Isogeometric analysis: Cad, finite elements, nurbs, exact geometry and mesh refinement,” Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, vol. 194,no. 39, pp. 4135-4195, 2005.
[4] L. Greco, A. Patton, M. Negri, A. Marengo, U. Perego, and A. Reali, “Higher order phase-field modeling of brittle fracture via isogeometric analysis,” Engineering with Computers, pp. 1-20, 2024.