title: Phenomenological approach to mechanical damage growth analysis.
abstract: The problem of characterizing damage evolution in a generic material is addressed with the aim of tracing it back to existing growth models in other fields of research. Based on energetic considerations, a system evolution equation is derived for a generic damage indicator describing a material system subjected to an increasing external stress. The latter is found to fit into the framework of a recently developed phenomenological universality (PUN) approach and, more specifically, the so-called U2 class. Analytical results are confirmed by numerical simulations based on a fiber-bundle model and statistically assigned local strengths at the microscale. The fits with numerical data prove, with an excellent degree of reliability, that the typical evolution of the damage indicator belongs to the aforementioned PUN class. Applications of this result are briefly discussed and suggested.
authors.affiliation: Department of Structural Engineering and Geotechnics, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pugno
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bosia
authors.forename: Antonio S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Gliozzi
authors.forename: Pier Paolo
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Delsanto
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carpinteri
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001703:Biophysics / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013816:Thermodynamics