PSI - Issue 79

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ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 79 (2026) 386–393

28th International Conference on Fracture and Structural Integrity - 3rd Mediterranean Conference on Fracture and Structural Integrity Fracture simulation in multiphase materials via ALE-driven cohesive interface strategy Umberto De Maio a* , Francesco Fabbrocino b , Daniele Gaetano a , Fabrizio Greco a ,

Andrea Pranno b , Alessandra Silvestri a a University of Calabria, Via Ponte P. Bucci, Rende, 87036, Italy b Pegaso University, Centro Direzionale ISOLA F2, Naples, 80143, Italy

© 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Abstract In this work, we present a numerical methodology for simulating crack initiation and propagation in multiphase materials. The approach integrates an Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) formulation with an adaptive cohesive interface model, allowing for the dynamic alignment of the crack path and the insertion of cohesive elements along mesh boundaries, without requiring re meshing. Crack propagation directions are determined based on a stress criterion, while the cohesive interfaces follow a traction– separation law capable of capturing complex failure mechanisms, especially in the presence of material discontinuities between phases. This strategy effectively reduces computational costs and mitigates mesh-dependence issues commonly encountered in standard cohesive zone models. Numerical results confirm the robustness of the proposed framework in predicting arbitrarily evolving crack paths.

Peer-review under responsibility of IGF28 - MedFract3 organizers Keywords: Type your keywords here, separated by semicolons ;

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-0984-496918. E-mail address: umberto.demaio@unical.it

2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of IGF28 - MedFract3 organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.12.349