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Zhengyu Zhang

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

Cohesive Zone Modeling of Dynamic Failure in Functionally Graded Materials

This work presents a Cohesive Zone Model (CZM) approach for investigating dynamic failure processes in homogeneous and Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs). The failure criterion is incorporated in the CZM using both a finite cohesive strength and work to fracture in the material description. A novel CZM for
FGMs is explored and incorporated into a finite element framework. The material gradation is approximated at the element level using a graded element formulation. A numerical example is provided to demonstrate the efficacy of the CZM approach, in which the influence of the material gradation on the crack branching pattern is studied.