On the complementary roles of anisotropic crack density and anisotropic crack driving force in phase-field modeling of mixed-mode fracture

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kim, Guk Heon, Kim, Minseo, Chun, Kwangsan, Kim, Jaemin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866917417858367488
author Kim, Guk Heon
Kim, Minseo
Chun, Kwangsan
Kim, Jaemin
author_facet Kim, Guk Heon
Kim, Minseo
Chun, Kwangsan
Kim, Jaemin
contents Phase-field models for anisotropic fracture employ two complementary mechanisms: (i) the anisotropic crack density function, controlling direction-dependent fracture resistance, and (ii) the anisotropic strain energy, governing the fracture driving force. Although the unified framework was presented in Pranavi et al.[Comput. Mech., 73 (2024)], the distinct roles of these mechanisms and their interaction remain uninvestigated. This work addresses this gap by first validating the formulation against mixed-mode fracture experiments on a soft elastomer (Lu et al. [Extreme Mech. Lett., 48 (2021)]), and then conducting systematic parametric studies on single-edge-notched (SEN) and open-hole tension (OHT) specimens to isolate each mechanism. The SEN studies show that the crack density anisotropy controls the crack path and toughness while leaving the elastic response unchanged, whereas the anisotropic strain energy deflects the crack but saturates rapidly. The OHT studies reveal a geometry-dependent role expansion: the anisotropic strain energy governs fiber-orientation-dependent stiffness, peak force, and fracture displacement. When both mechanisms act together, the combined response exhibits nonlinear synergistic interaction exceeding the linear sum of the individual contributions. These results establish that the crack density anisotropy governs the crack path (fracture resistance), while the anisotropic strain energy governs the driving force and, in stress-concentration geometries, additionally controls the elastic strain energy distribution around the stress concentrator.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_16828
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On the complementary roles of anisotropic crack density and anisotropic crack driving force in phase-field modeling of mixed-mode fracture
Kim, Guk Heon
Kim, Minseo
Chun, Kwangsan
Kim, Jaemin
Materials Science
Soft Condensed Matter
Dynamical Systems
Phase-field models for anisotropic fracture employ two complementary mechanisms: (i) the anisotropic crack density function, controlling direction-dependent fracture resistance, and (ii) the anisotropic strain energy, governing the fracture driving force. Although the unified framework was presented in Pranavi et al.[Comput. Mech., 73 (2024)], the distinct roles of these mechanisms and their interaction remain uninvestigated. This work addresses this gap by first validating the formulation against mixed-mode fracture experiments on a soft elastomer (Lu et al. [Extreme Mech. Lett., 48 (2021)]), and then conducting systematic parametric studies on single-edge-notched (SEN) and open-hole tension (OHT) specimens to isolate each mechanism. The SEN studies show that the crack density anisotropy controls the crack path and toughness while leaving the elastic response unchanged, whereas the anisotropic strain energy deflects the crack but saturates rapidly. The OHT studies reveal a geometry-dependent role expansion: the anisotropic strain energy governs fiber-orientation-dependent stiffness, peak force, and fracture displacement. When both mechanisms act together, the combined response exhibits nonlinear synergistic interaction exceeding the linear sum of the individual contributions. These results establish that the crack density anisotropy governs the crack path (fracture resistance), while the anisotropic strain energy governs the driving force and, in stress-concentration geometries, additionally controls the elastic strain energy distribution around the stress concentrator.
title On the complementary roles of anisotropic crack density and anisotropic crack driving force in phase-field modeling of mixed-mode fracture
topic Materials Science
Soft Condensed Matter
Dynamical Systems
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.16828