A Finite Volume Framework for Damage and Fracture Prediction in Wire Drawing

This article presents the implementation of the canonical Lemaitre and Gurson–Tvergaard–Needleman (GTN) damage models and a more recent phase‐field type model within a Lagrangian, geometrically nonlinear, cell‐centred finite volume framework. The proposed segregated solution procedure uses Picard‐type defect (deferred) outer corrections, where the primary unknowns are cell‐centre displacements and pressures. Spurious zero‐energy modes (numerical oscillations in displacement and pressure) are avoided by introducing stabilisation (smoothing) diffusion terms to the pressure and momentum equations. Appropriate scaling of the momentum “Rhie–Chow” stabilisation term is shown to be important in regions of plasticity and damage. To accurately predict damage and fracture in wire drawing where hydrostatic pressure is high, novel variants of the Lemaitre model with crack‐closure and triaxiality effects are proposed. The developed methods are validated against the notched round bar and flat notched bar experimental cases and subsequently applied to the analysis of axisymmetric wire drawing. It is shown that the proposed finite volume approach provides a robust basis for predicting damage in wire drawing, where the proposed novel Lemaitre model with crack‐closure effects was shown to be the most suitable for predicting experimentally observed fracture.