A simple and unified implementation of phase field and gradient damage models

Abstract In this work, the analogous treatment between coupled temperature–displacement problems and material failure models is explored within the context of a commercial software (Abaqus®). The implicit gradient Lemaitre damage and phase field models are implemented utilizing the software underlying capabilities for coupled temperature–displacement problems. The heat conduction equation is made compatible with the diffusive regularization of such material models and calculations are carried out at the material point level. This bypasses the need to implement explicitly the weak form resultant from the coupling between the momentum conservation and the evolution of the diffusive field. Throughout benchmarking examples, the proposed methodology is assessed and validated by investigating typical issues risen from the considered local inelastic-based deformation models, such as mesh dependency and the difficulties to predict cracked regions