Simulation of damage evolution in ductile metals undergoing dynamic loading conditions

A set of constitutive equations for large rate-dependent elastic–plastic-damage materials at elevated temperatures is presented to be able to analyze adiabatic high strain rate deformation processes for a wide range of stress triaxialities. The model is based on the concepts of continuum damage mechanics. Since the material macroscopic thermo-mechanical response under large strain and high strain rate deformation loading is governed by different physical mechanisms, a multi-dissipative approach is proposed. It incorporates thermo-mechanical coupling effects as well as internal dissipative mechanisms through rate-dependent constitutive relations with a set of internal variables. In addition, the effect of stress triaxiality on the onset and evolution of plastic flow, damage and failure is discussed. Furthermore, the algorithm for numerical integration of the coupled constitutive rate equations is presented. It relies on operator split methodology resulting in an inelastic predictor–elastic corrector technique. The explicit finite element program LS-DYNA augmented by an user-defined material subroutine is used to approximate boundary-value problems under dynamic loading conditions. Numerical simulations of dynamic experiments with different specimens are performed and good correlation of numerical results and published experimental data is achieved. Based on numerical studies modified specimens geometries are proposed to be able to detect complex damage and failure mechanisms in Hopkinson-Bar experiments.