A crack-tracking technique for localized cohesive-frictional damage

This paper extends the use of crack-tracking techniques within the smeared crack approach for the numerical simulation of cohesive-frictional damage on quasi-brittle materials. The mechanical behaviour is described by an isotropic damage model with a Mohr-Coulomb failure surface. The correct crack propagation among the two alternative fracture planes proposed by the Mohr-Coulomb theory is selected with the use of an energy criterion based on the total elastic strain energy. The simulation of three benchmark problems of mixed-mode fracture in concrete demonstrates that the proposed methodology can reproduce the material's frictional characteristics, showing robustness, as well as mesh-size and mesh-bias independence.