Void coalescence in porous ductile solids containing two populations of cavities

Abstract A model of coalescence by internal necking of primary voids is developed which accounts for the presence of a second population of cavities. The derivation is based on a limit-analysis of a cylindrical cell containing a mesoscopic void and subjected to boundary conditions describing the kinematics of coalescence. The second population is accounted locally in the matrix surrounding the mesoscopic void through the microscopic potential of Michel and Suquet (1992) for spherical voids. The macroscopic criterion obtained is assessed through comparison of its predictions with the results of micromechanical finite element simulations on the same cell. A good agreement between model predictions and numerical results is found on the limit-load promoting coalescence.