A Model of Quasibrittle Fracture of Solids

The present work is dedicated to the modeling of damage (microcracks) growth in solids under overall tensile stresses. The model is based on the thermodynamic analysis of damage. The kinetic equations for the density of microcracks and their orientations are obtained from the first and second laws of thermodynamics applied to the proposed model. The condition of the final (local) failure follows naturally from the kinetic equation of the damage growth as instability of its solution. Analysis of the proposed kinetic equations and the application of the model to the damage growth under complex loading history are presented.