In this study, a triaxiality-dependent cohesive zone model (TDCZM) is proposed to incorporate the effect of stress triaxiality on ductile material failure. In this model, the two key cohesive parameters—tensile strength and fracture energy—are formulated as functions of the local stress triaxiality, which is evaluated from the solid elements adjacent to the cohesive interfaces. A three-dimensional ductile crack growth analysis is carried out on a steel C(T) specimen. The simulation results are compared with experimental data as well as with those obtained using a conventional cohesive zone model with constant parameters. The effectiveness of the proposed TDCZM in accurately modeling 3D ductile crack propagation is thereby demonstrated.
LI et al. (Wed,) studied this question.