Effect of viscosity on the robustness of the element deletion method for crack propagation modelling

The numerical simulation of crack propagation in solids is of main importance in fracture mechanics and has been extensively studied over the years. Several approaches have been developed in order to describe the evolving geometry of a crack [1{6], but despite the research e orts some challenges are still present. A commonly used technique in Finite Element codes is the element deletion method due to the simplicity of its numerical implementation and possible extension to 3D. Furthermore, it is possible to couple this method with any failure criterion or damage model without additional considerations. This advantages are extremely desirable for numerical approaches involving high computational costs, e.g. the multi-scale computational homogenization [7, 8], where the element deletion method can be used at the micro-scale to simulate the nucleation, growth and coalescence of micro-voids [9].