OOP Implementation of Phase-Field Models

Resumo

The study of fracture mechanisms to prevent the catastrophic collapse of structures is an important re-
search trend. Among the possible approaches, the phase-field modelling, starting from a variational formulation of

the Griffith’s criterion, allows for a smoothed representation of a sharp crack, without the need for a discrete rep-
resentation of the sharp crack itself. The phase-field modelling of fracture was recently implemented in INSANE

(INteractive Structural ANalysis Environment), an open-source software based on the Object-Oriented Program-
ming paradigm developed by a research group at the Structural Engineering Department of the Federal University

of Minas Gerais (UFMG), and currently used in a number of research projects of the group. The results available in
the literature and the recent advancements of the group, point out that the phase-field approach is effective for the
simulation of cracks nucleation and propagation. In this paper, new results obtained with the phase-field modelling
of fracture through the implementation in INSANE will be presented.