Continuum Damage Mechanics, Anisotropy and Damage Deactivation for Brittle Materials Like Concrete and Ceramic Composites

The main lines of a Continuum Damage Mechanics Modelling are reviewed, for applications to brittle materials treated as elastic damageable ones. The proposed damage models consider in the same framework the cases of initially isotropic materials like concrete and anisotropic composites. Attention is focused on the damage deactivation effects and on the possibility to describe irreversible strains directly associated to the damaging processes without any additional dissipation. Finally, the model is applied to two particular SiC/SiC and C/SiC composites.