Evaluation of damage models by finite element prediction of fracture in cylindrical tensile test.

In this research, tensile tests of cylindrical specimens of a mild steel are predicted via the finite element method, with emphasis on the fracture predictions of various damage models. An analytical model is introduced for this purpose. An iterative material identification procedure is used to obtain the flow stress, making it possible to exactly predict a tensile test up to the fracture point, in the engineering sense. A node-splitting technique is used to generate the cracks on the damaged elements. The damage models of McClintock, Rice-Tracey, Cockcroft-Latham, Freudenthal, Brozzo et al. and Oyane et al. are evaluated by comparing their predictions from the tensile test perspective.