Application of Complete Gurson Model for Prediction of Ductile Fracture in Welded Steel Joints

Ductile fracture process includes three stages: void nucleation, their growth and coalescence. The voids nucleate due to the fracture or separation of non-metallic inclusions and secondary-phase particles from the material matrix. Micromechanical models based on the Gurson plastic flow criterion are often used for analysis of ductile fracture. They consider the material as a porous medium in which the effect of voids on the stress-strain state and plastic flow cannot be neglected. Another important property of the Gurson criterion is that the hydrostatic stress component influences the plastic flow of the material.