A Novel method to uniquely determine the parameters in Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman model

Zhang, T.; Lu, K.; Mano, Akihiro; Yamaguchi, Yoshihito; Katsuyama, Jinya; Li, Y.

Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures, 44(12), p.3399 - 3415, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1111/ffe.13568

The Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) model is considered a promising approach in failure prediction as it takes the micromechanical behavior of ductile metals into consideration and its function exhibits a relatively clear physical meaning. Although the GTN model has been widely investigated in the past decades, its engineering applications have scarcely progressed due to the difficulty in determining the eight strongly coupled parameters. Based on the physical background of GTN model, a set of methods was established to determine the parameters in the GTN model. The knowledge of continuum damage mechanics was used to experimentally determine the development of void volume fraction through the variation of effective Young's modulus in a uniaxial tensile test, and three parameters regarding void nucleation were analytically derived using a newly established method. Other parameters in the GTN model were also uniquely determined through a joint use of the chemical composition analysis (for the initial void volume fraction), the cell model analyses (for the two constitutive parameters), and the inverse finite element method (for the two failure parameters). The reliability of this novel parameter determination method was verified through the failure prediction of both cracked and uncracked specimens of carbon steel STPT410.