Dynamic Fracture Simulation by Using a Discretized Virtual Internal Bond with a Regular Hexagon Cell

Abstract

The discretized virtual internal bond (DVIB) is a newly developed lattice bond method for fracture simulation. The discrete structure of the DVIB method is composed of unit bond cells, which can take any geometry with any number of bonds. Hence, the DVIB is able to represent the meso-structural characters of a material composed of micro-grains. The regular hexagon is fully symmetrical in geometry, isotropic with respect to fracture propagation and has more failure directions than the usual triangular cell. Due to its geometric advantages, the regular hexagon is adopted as the unit cell of DVIB to simulate the dynamic fracture propagation. It is shown that the fracture paths simulated by this method are independent of the mesh scheme and the simulation results are reliable. The interaction between particles is characterized by a hyperelastic bond potential, and most characters of the dynamic fracture behaviors are captured. It is suggested that the DVIB with regular hexagon cells is a reliable and efficient method for dynamic fracture simulation.