The Strong Discontinuity Approach as a limit case of strain localization in the implicit BEM formulation

The Implicit Formulation of the Boundary Element Method (BEM) is used to deal with physically non-linear 2D-problems in solids. An isotropic damage constitutive model, equipped with a strain softening rule, is applied to increasingly narrow bandwidths, determined by mesh refinement, showing the typical post-peak mesh-dependence behaviour. The Continuum Strong Discontinuity Approach (CSDA), characterized by the introduction of discontinuous jumps in the displacement field together with an equilibrium verification (using continuous constitutive models) on the discontinuity line, is also applied to the implicit formulation of the BEM. By a simple numerical example, it is shown that, beyond the mesh independence, the CSDA results represent the limit case of a zero localization bandwidth. Moreover, to demonstrate the accuracy of the CSDA, other three examples involving concrete fracture are presented and the obtained results are compared with experimental or analytical data available in the literature.