
Product: Abaqus/Standard

The material damage initiation capability for ductile materials based on inelastic hysteresis energy:
is intended as a general capability for predicting initiation of damage in ductile materials in a low-cycle fatigue analysis;
can be used in combination with the damage evolution law for ductile materials described in “Damage evolution for ductile materials in low-cycle fatigue,” Section 24.4.3; and
can be used only in a low-cycle fatigue analysis using the direct cyclic approach (“Low-cycle fatigue analysis using the direct cyclic approach,” Section 6.2.7).

The damage initiation criterion is a phenomenological model for predicting the onset of damage due to stress reversals and the accumulation of inelastic strain in a low-cycle fatigue analysis. It is characterized by the accumulated inelastic hysteresis energy per cycle,
, in a material point when the structure response is stabilized in the cycle. The cycle number in which damage is initiated is given by
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The initiation criterion can be used in conjunction with any ductile material.
| Input File Usage: | *DAMAGE INITIATION, CRITERION=HYSTERESIS ENERGY |

The damage initiation criteria for ductile materials can be used with any elements in Abaqus/Standard that include mechanical behavior (elements that have displacement degrees of freedom). This includes cohesive elements based on a continuum approach (“Modeling of an adhesive layer of finite thickness” in “Defining the constitutive response of cohesive elements using a continuum approach,” Section 32.5.5).

In addition to the standard output identifiers available in Abaqus/Standard (“Abaqus/Standard output variable identifiers,” Section 4.2.1), the following variable has special meaning when a damage initiation criterion is specified:
CYCLEINI | Number of cycles to initialize the damage at the material point. |