The phase-field model with an auto-calibrated degradation function based on general softening laws for cohesive fracture

Phase-field models have become popular to simulate cohesive failure problems because of their capability of predicting crack initiation and propagation without additional criteria. In this paper, a new phase-field damage model coupled with general softening laws for cohesive fracture is proposed based on the unified phase-field theory. The commonly used quadratic geometric function in the classical phase-field model is implemented in the proposed model. The modified degradation function related to the failure strength and length scale is used to obtain the length scale insensitive model. Based on the analytical solution of a 1-D case, general softening laws in cohesive zone models can be considered. Parameters in the degradation function can be calibrated according to different softening curves and material properties. Numerical examples show that the results obtained by the proposed model have a good agreement with experimental results and the length scale has a negligible influence on the load-displacement curves in most cases, which cannot be observed in classical phase-field model. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.