Damage Initiation Laws

Introduction

Damage initiation laws are used in softening materials to initiate the damage process. They consist of a failure envelope in stress space. Once the current stresses reach the envelop, the damage process begins. The normal to the failure envelop defines the normal to the plane of damage that is initiated. After initiation, damage propagates, but the damage law is no longer used.

Define a Damage Initiation Laws

You create a damage initiation law using an Initiation material property within a Material command block. You pick the law by name or ID. After picking the law, all its properties are set using property commands. Refer to each damage initiation law type to learn about its failure envelope and about its possible properties.

Damage Initiation Law Materials

This table lists the available damage initiation law. Click each one for more details and information on their properties.

Name	ID	Description
MaxPrinciple	1	Damage initiates with principle stress exceeds tensile strength or when maximum shear stress exceeds the shear strength.

It is relatively easy to write code for new damage initiation laws, if needed.