Issue 18

S. Marfia et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 18 (2011) 23-33; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.18.03 32 All computations are developed assuming two interface damage models: the uncoupled model, which does not take into account the interaction between body and interface degradation, and the coupled one, in which the body damage influences the interface damage according to the formulation developed in the Model 1. In Fig. 6 the value of max F is plotted versus the adhesion length b L . Note that each curve is denoted by a symbol made of a letter and a number. The letter U is used to indicate that the analysis is performed adopting the uncoupled damage model, while the letter C is used to characterize the analysis developed with the coupled damage theory (Model 1). The number near the letter indicates the initial damage level uniformly assigned at the body 1  . In particular, the number 1, 2, 3, and 4 corresponds to the damage value equal to 0, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9, respectively. The numerical results reported in Fig. 6 emphasize that, increasing the adhesion length b L , the value of max F grows till the optimal adhesion length e L is reached, after which max F remains constant. In particular, from the type U curves marked by the discontinuous line, it can be noted that:  for higher values of the damage state of the body 1  the optimal adhesion length e L increases;  for higher values of the damage state of the body 1  the maximum value of max F is quite constant and, in some cases, it tends to increase;  for very high values of the damage state of the body 1  the maximum value of max F decreases. While the first result is absolutely expected, the second one appears physically unacceptable, as it implies that even if the support material is more damaged, equal or higher values of the forces can be transmitted from 2  to 1  . On the contrary, only when the damage level of the body 1  becomes very high the force decreases. This strange effect is due to the uncoupled damage evolution of the body and of the interface damage state. With reference to the all type C curves marked by the solid line, the following observations can be remarked:  for higher values of the damage state of the body 1  the optimal adhesion length e L increases, as in the case of the uncoupled model;  for higher values of the damage state of the body 1  the maximum value of max F decreases. This last result appears much more reasonable and, as a consequence, more reliable with respect to the one obtained adopting the uncoupled damage model, as it does not suffer from the physical unacceptable effect found in the uncoupled one. Figure 6 : Decohesion force max F versus adhesion length b L . C ONCLUSIONS n conclusion, it can be remarked that the two different ways of coupling the body and the interface damage present significant differences in the numerical applications. In fact, the results carried out adopting the Model 1, show that the softening behavior is strongly influenced by the evolution of the body damage until the interface damage becomes higher than the body one. From this point of the analysis, the body damage does not increase anymore and the 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 L b [mm] F MAX [N] C4 U4 C3 C2 U1 C1 U2 U3 L e (C4) U uncoupled theory C coupled theory 1 D   2 D   3 D   4 D   I