To simulate numerically a failure process, a new kind of model which combines the two traditional approaches (damage and fracture mechanics) has been proposed in the literature. The basic idea of these hybrid strategies is to employ regularised continuous models to describe the first stages of failure and discontinuous models to deal with the possible development of cracks. Here, a new combined approach is presented. In order to describe damage inception and its diffuse propagation, an implicit gradient-enhanced continuum model based on smoothed displacements is used, where two different displacement fields coexist: (a) the standard displacements u u u and (b) the gradient-enriched displacement field u u u, which is the solution of a partial differential equation with u u u as the source term. Once the damage parameter exceeds a critical value, the continuous model is coupled to a discontinuous one. The eXtended Finite Element Method (X-FEM) is used to describe the growing cracks, whose direction of propagation is prescribed by the steepest descent direction of the damage profile and whose cohesive law is defined according to an energy balance. Therefore, the energy not yet dissipated by the continuous bulk is transmitted to the cohesive interface thus ensuring that the energy dissipated by the structure remains constant through the transition
