FRACTOMECHANICS PARAMETER CALCULUS USING THE DISCRETE ELEMENT METHOD

Abstract

THE FRACTOMECHANICS PARAMETER CALCULUS USING COMPUTATIONAL NUMERICAL METHODS IS STILL AN ACTIVE AREA OF INVESTIGATION. TRADITIONALLY, THE MOST EMPLOYED METHODS ARE THE FINITE ELEMENT METHOD (FEM) AND THE BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD (BEM). THE DISCRETE ELEMENT METHOD (DEM) IS ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE, ALTHOUGH ITS USAGE IS NOT SO EXTENDED IN THE SOLID MECHANICS AREA. DEM SUCCESS IN THE SIMULATION OF FAILURE MECHANISMS AND DEFECT NUCLEATION MOTIVATES ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN FRACTURE MECHANIC PROBLEMS. IN ORDER TO EXPLORE ITS POTENTIALITIES IN THIS KIND OF PROBLEMS, THIS WORK PRESENTS THE STATIC AND DYNAMIC FRACTOMECHANICS PARAMETER CALCULUS OF A MODELED PLATE WITH DEM. FOR THIS PURPOSE THE NUMERICAL METHODOLOGIES USED ARE THE SAME AS THE ONES EMPLOYED IN THE TRADITIONAL NUMERICAL METHODS, SUCH AS FEM AND BEM, AS WELL. THE OBTAINED RESULTS, COMPARED WITH THE NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL RESULTS PUBLISHED BY OTHER AUTHORS, ALLOW THE VALIDATION OF DEM FOR SUCH APPLICATIONS WHERE THE FRACTURE PROCESS MUST BE DOUBTLESSLY TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.