Pseudo-potential of elastoplastic damage constitutive model and its application

Damage pseudo-potentials, from which the damage evolution equations can be acquired, are usually expressed as scalar functions of irreversible thermodynamic variables. A lower potential for an action with the dissipation property corresponds to a Helmholtz free energy function in classical mechanics; therefore, pseudo-potential acts as a cornerstone of the damage constitutive relationship. According to the analysis on state and process of a damage system, the authors study the connection between damage action, pseudo-potential and free energy function. Next a general method to define the pseudo-potential of damage process is discussed. The discrete elementary equations of continuum damage mechanics are derived from the action functional. Subsequently, the numerical implementation of the aforementioned damage model is given. Comparison between experimental evidences and numerical results verifies the soundness of the theoretical model and the numerical framework.