Neue Bewertungskriterien für geschädigte Strukturen

The topic of our concern in the present paper is the discussion of a new assessment criterion for damaged structures based on material forces, also known as configurational forces. In general, we assume hyperelastic materials at large strains. The application of the material forces is given in the context of numerical simulation based on the Finite Element Method using an explicit solver for time integration. By using material forces, predictions of the fracture mechanical behaviour of structures with initial cracks can be performed. Therefore, this tool finds an increasing acceptance in industrial application. Since studies published so far have been performed rather for quasi static loaded systems, we take our attention to structures with high strain rate loading with respect to the application in short-time dynamics, impact and crash simulation. At first, we discuss theoretical aspects of the formulation and, subsequently, we show illustrative examples like damaged structures with notches. Additionally, we present systems under shockwave induced loads. As a further application, we investigate the damage phenomena on the micro scale. Based on the material force method, reasons for reduction of stiffness in damaged zones are identified. Finally, we discuss the application of material forces in the context of mesh optimization.