Implementation of a rate dependent tensile failure model for brittle materials in ABAQUS

Plate impact tests present the dynamic response of materials under impact loading conditions. Commercial finite element software can be used to simulate plate impact test and implement the desired constitutive or damage model of materials. Implementation of plate impact tests also allows researchers to study the dynamic response of heterogeneous materials in micro-scale. A plate impact test for brittle materials has been simulated in this study using ABAQUS software. Micro-cracking in the brittle ceramic materials causes the samples to behave inelastically under compressive shock loading. The release waves from the free surface of the flyer and rear surface of the target release the compressed materials. Consequently, micro-cracks rapidly open and extend, causing the damage to grow. Thus, the Taylor–Chen–Kuszmaul (TCK) model was implemented using a VUMAT FORTRAN ABAQUS/Explicit subroutine with respect to tension with damage growth and to compression plasticity for ceramic plates (target). The objective of the study is to describe the implementation of a state- and pressure-dependent constitutive model that describes tensile damage in brittle materials using a finite element method. An iteration second-order Runge–Kutta method has been developed for further implementation. Some parameters, such as damage nucleation and strain rate sensitivity, are calibrated based on the ability of the model to reproduce the experimental results. The damage model introduced in this study has been employed successfully to match the experimental results for an AD-85 ceramic target material.