Existence of Solutions to a Regularized Model of Dynamic Fracture

Existence and convergence results are proved for a regularized model of dynamic brittle fracture based on the Ambrosio–Tortorelli approximation. We show that the sequence of solutions to the time-discrete elastodynamics, proposed by Bourdin, Larsen & Richardson as a semidiscrete numerical model for dynamic fracture, converges, as the time-step approaches zero, to a solution of the natural time-continuous elastodynamics model, and that this solution satisfies an energy balance. We emphasize that these models do not specify crack-paths a priori, but predict them, including such complicated behavior as kinking, crack branching, and so forth, in any spatial dimension.