Abstract

The objective of the work presented in this paper was to generate the thermodynamically
consistent coupled thermo-elastic-plastic damage model of solid media at a macroscopic level applicable to
hypervelocity impacts. The model is based on the thermodynamics of irreversible processes and the assumption
that damage within a continuum can be represented as a damage tensor ωij [1], [4]. This allows for definition
of two scalars that are ω =ωkk/3 (the volume damage) [2], [3] and α = SQR[ω′ijω′ij] (a norm of the damage
tensor deviator ω′ij =ωij −ωδij ) [4]. The parameter ω describes the accumulation of micro-pore type
damage (which may disappear under compression) and the parameter α describes the shear related damage.
The parameter ω may be considered as a volume content of micro-pores in the material. In the damage-free
material we have ω =α = 0 ; if damage is accumulated, ω and α increase in such a manner that they remain
less than one. This damage evolution is then coupled to a strain, strain-rate and temperature dependent
plasticity model. The initiation of failure is based on a critical value of a specific dissipation function. The
performance of the model in modelling high velocity impacts is illustrated by few numerical examples.