Phase-field models for prediction of crack propagation

Abstract

For the development of digital twins in the aerospace industry, lifetime calculations under engine-relevant conditions are essential. Phase-field modelling of fracture has become a promising and popular method in research for the description of crack initiation and propagation, as it overcomes several problems associated with established classical fracture mechanics techniques. Due to its energy-based approach, the phase-field concept can be extended in an intrinsic way. This allows damage processes caused by multi-physical loads to be taken into account and resulting effects on the lifetime can be described. However, the phase-field approach for crack propagation is also computationally intensive and poses numerical challenges. We provide insights into our work on the application of the phase-field method for lifetime computation demonstrating the enormous potential of this approach and show the applicability of the phase-field approach to component geometries. In particular, we use a gear geometry to demonstrate the extension of the phase-field approach to fatigue in order to capture engine-relevant mechanical loads and address associated challenges to reduce the computational effort.