`Damage cascade' in a softening interface

Arnaud Delaplace (1) , Stéphane Roux (2) , Gilles Pijaudier-Cabot (1)

1 LMT - Laboratoire de Mécanique et Technologie
2 PMMH - Physique et mécanique des milieux hétérogenes (UMR 7636)

A model describing the damage at an interface which is coupled to an elastic homogeneous block is introduced. Resorting to a real-space renormalization analysis, we show that in the absence of heterogeneity localization proceeds through a cascade of bifurcations which progressively concentrates the damage from the global interface to a narrow region leading to a crack nucleation. The equivalent homogeneous interface behaviour is obtained through this entire cascade, allowing for the analysis of size effects. When random heterogeneities are introduced in the interface, prior to the onset of localization damage proceeds by a sequence of avalanches whose mean size diverges at the first bifurcation point of the homogeneous interface. The large scale features of the bifurcation cascade are preserved, while the details of the late stage are smeared out by the randomness.

Domaines: Mécanique [physics.med-ph]; Matériaux

Arnaud Delaplace, Stéphane Roux, Gilles Pijaudier-Cabot. `Damage cascade' in a softening interface. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 1999, 36 (10), pp.1403-1426. ⟨10.1016/S0020-7683(98)00054-7⟩. ⟨hal-01006714⟩