Phase-field modeling of porous-ductile fracture in non-linear thermo-elasto-plastic solids

Phase-field methods to regularize sharp interfaces represent a well established technique nowadays. In fracture mechanics, recent works have shown the capability of the method for brittle as well as ductile problems formulated within the fully non-linear regime. In this contribution, we introduce a framework to simulate porous-ductile fracture in isotropic thermoelasto-plastic solids undergoing large deformations. Therefore, a modified Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman GTN-type plasticity model is combined with a phase-field fracture approach to account for a temperature-dependent growth of voids on micro-scale followed by crack initiation and propagation on macro-scale. The multi-physical formulation is completed by the incorporation of an energy transfer into the thermal field such that the temperature distribution depends on the evolution of the plastic strain and the crack phase-field. Eventually, this physically comprehensive fracture formulation is validated by experimental data. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.