Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
An irregular lattice model is proposed for simulating quasistatic fracture in softening materials. Lattice elements are defined on the edges of a Delaunay tessellation of the medium. The dual (Voronoi) tessellation is used to scale the elemental stiffness terms in a manner that renders the lattice elastically homogeneous. This property enables the accurate modeling of heterogeneity, as demonstrated through the elastic stress analyses of fiber composites. A cohesive description of fracture is used to model crack initiation and propagation. Numerical simulations, which demonstrate energy-conserving and grid-insensitive descriptions of cracking, are presented. The model provides a framework for the failure analysis of quasibrittle materials and fiber-reinforced brittle-matrix composites.
Bolander et al. (Thu,) studied this question.