A micromechanics-based enhanced plastic damage model including localization analysis for heterogeneous geomaterials

Abstract A micromechanics-based plastic damage model including localised failure is proposed in the present work for heterogenous materials which can be treated as a porous matrix reinforced by mineral inclusions. This model explicitly considers the influences of pores and inclusions volume fractions, also the solid phase dilatancy on the overall mechanical performance. The induced damage in solid phase is also considered. Based on this two-scale model, the bifurcation analysis is performed to detect both the onset and orientation of localization band. Numerical simulations are carried out for different cases. It is found that the material’s microstructure affects importantly the onset point of the localization and the post-localization behavior. As an example of validation, the proposed model enhanced with localization analysis is then adopted to predict the overall mechanical response before and post localization of this typical claystone. Comparing with the experimental results, the capacity of this enhanced modelling is clearly demonstrated.