Phase-field simulation of ductile fracture in shell structures

In this paper, a computational framework for simulating ductile fracture in multipatch shell structures is presented. A phase-field model at finite strains combined with an isogeometric Kirchhoff–Love formulation. For the application to complex structures, we employ penalty approach imposing, patch interfaces, displacement and rotational continuity C0 C1 of phase-field, latter required if higher-order formulation adopted. We study mesh dependency numerical show that refinement allows capturing important features such as cracking along shear bands. Therefore, investigate effectiveness predictor–corrector algorithm adaptive based on LR NURBS. Thanks adoption time- space-adaptivity strategies, it possible simulate failure reasonable effort. Finally, compare predictions experimental results.