PSI - Issue 66

Umberto De Maio et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 66 (2024) 495–501 Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2025) 000–000

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The main displacements of the mesh arise around the crack tip and they are very small, thus leading to a smooth crack path. This is confirmed by the zoom of the computational mesh at different load values reported at the right side of Fig. 4. As a matter of fact, we can note that the crack propagation is well simulated by the proposed model which imposes displacements to the crack tip coherent with the crack growth direction. 4. Conclusions In the present paper a numerical procedure, based on the moving mesh technique and interface cohesive approach, to simulate the crack onset and propagation in quasi-brittle materials is proposed. In particular, the ALE formulation is employed to move the cracked elements along the crack growth direction computed by the J-Integral method, while the cohesive zone model is adopted to describe the nonlinear crack behavior. The combination of the two approaches allows us to reduce the well-known mesh dependency issues affecting the discrete crack approach. The proposed numerical framework is here applied to simulate the structural behavior of a concrete gravity dam already experimentally and numerically analyzed in the scientific literature. The obtained results, in terms of loading curve and crack patterns, are in good agreement with the experiment and those obtained by available numerical model, thus highlighting the good numerical capabilities of the proposed model in the prediction of damage behavior in quasi-brittle materials like concrete. As a future perspective of the work, the proposed numerical procedure will be incorporate in a multiscale model in order to reproduce the microscale failure mechanisms involving in heterogeneous materials like composite following the approach outlined in (Lee et al., 1999; De Maio et al., 2024c). Acknowledgements U. De Maio, F. Greco, P. Lonetti and P. Nevone Blasi gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Next Generation EU - Italian NRRP, Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.5, call for the creation and strengthening of 'Innovation Ecosystems', building 'Territorial R&D Leaders' (Directorial Decree n. 2021/3277) - project Tech4You - Technologies for climate change adaptation and quality of life improvement, n. ECS0000009. References Álvarez, D., Blackman, B.R.K., Guild, F.J., Kinloch, A.J., 2014. Mode I fracture in adhesively-bonded joints: A mesh-size independent modelling approach using cohesive elements. Engineering Fracture Mechanics 115, 73–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2013.10.005 Amini, M.R., Shahani, A.R., 2013. Finite element simulation of dynamic crack propagation process using an arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian formulation. Fatigue Fract Eng Mat Struct 36, 533–547. https://doi.org/10.1111/ffe.12023 Ammendolea, D., Greco, F., Leonetti, L., Lonetti, P., Pascuzzo, A., 2023. Fatigue crack growth simulation using the moving mesh technique. Fatigue Fract Eng Mat Struct 46, 4606–4627. https://doi.org/10.1111/ffe.14155 Barpi, F., Valente, S., 2000. Numerical Simulation of Prenotched Gravity Dam Models. J. Eng. Mech. 126, 611–619. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9399(2000)126:6(611) Bažant, Z.P., Li, Y.-N., 1997. Cohe sive Crack with Rate-Dependent Opening and Viscoelasticity: I. Mathematical Model and Scaling. International Journal of Fracture 86, 247–265. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007486221395 Bruno, D., Greco, F., Lonetti, P., 2009. Dynamic Mode I and Mode II Crack Propagation in Fiber Reinforced Composites. Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures 16, 442–455. https://doi.org/10.1080/15376490902781183 Camacho, G.T., Ortiz, M., 1996. Computational modelling of impact damage in brittle materials. International Journal of Solids and Structures 33, 2899–2938. https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-7683(95)00255-3 Campilho, R.D.S.G., Banea, M.D., Neto, J.A.B.P., Da Silva, L.F.M., 2013. Modelling adhesive joints with cohesive zone models: effect of the cohesive law shape of the adhesive layer. International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives 44, 48–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijadhadh.2013.02.006 Carpinteri, A., 1989. Size Effects on Strength, Toughness, and Ductility. J. Eng. Mech. 115, 1375–1392. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733 9399(1989)115:7(1375) Cheng, H., Zhou, X., 2020. An energy-based criterion of crack branching and its application on the multidimensional space method. International Journal of Solids and Structures 182–183, 179–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2019.08.019 Chiaruttini, V., Geoffroy, D., Riolo, V., Bonnet, M., 2012. An adaptive algorithm for cohesive zone model and arbitrary crack propagation. European Journal of Computational Mechanics 21, 208–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/17797179.2012.744544