Damage and failure of ductile metals under non-proportional loading paths: Experiments, modeling and numerical simulations

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Michael Brünig
• Subject Area: Mechanics
• Term: from 2016 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 322157331

Current developments in lightweight structural engineering require high demands on used materials. Therefore, detailed knowledge of their behavior is necessary to be able to numerically predict loading capacity, safety and service life of structural components or complex innovative lightweight structures for expected loading conditions. In this context, systematic investigations with repeatable experiments especially for non-proportional loading paths covering all relevant stress states are necessary. Thus, experiments with flat biaxially loaded metal specimens will be performed to be able to detect different damage and failure mechanisms for different non-proportional loading conditions and for a wide range of stress states up to final fracture. Furthermore, numerical simulations on the micro-level will be carried out to develop parameters depending on the stress state and the stress history which cannot be determined by experiments. Based on experimental and numerical results a continuum damage and failure model will be proposed to numerically analyze the deformation and failure behavior of ductile metals under non-proportional loading conditions. Main goal of this research project is to establish a set of biaxial experiments with non-proportional loading paths used for detection of failure mechanisms for different stress histories in analysis of safety and service life prediction in practical disciplines like structural and aviation engineering or car industry.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Dr.-Ing. Steffen Gerke