Two scale damage model and related numerical issues for thermo-mechanical High Cycle Fatigue

On the idea that fatigue damage is localized at the microscopic scale, a scale smaller than the mesoscopic one of the Representative Volume Element (RVE), a three-dimensional two scale damage model has been proposed for High Cycle Fatigue applications. It is extended here to anisothermal cases and then to thermo-mechanical fatigue. The modeling consists in the micromechanics analysis of a weak micro-inclusion subjected to plasticity and damage embedded in an elastic meso-element (the RVE of continuum mechanics). The consideration of plasticity coupled with damage equations at microscale, altogether with Eshelby–Kröner localization law, allows to compute the value of microscopic damage up to failure for any kind of loading, 1D or 3D, cyclic or random, isothermal or anisothermal, mechanical, thermal or thermo-mechanical. A robust numerical scheme is proposed in order to make the computations fast. A post-processor for damage and fatigue (DAMAGE_2005) has been developed. It applies to complex thermo-mechanical loadings. Examples of the representation by the two scale damage model of physical phenomena related to High Cycle Fatigue are given such as the mean stress effect, the non-linear accumulation of damage. Examples of thermal and thermo-mechanical fatigue as well as complex applications on real size testing structure subjected to thermo-mechanical fatigue are detailed.