Computational modelling of static indentation-induced damage in glass

The present paper is focused on the numerical simulation of a glass plate subjected to static indentation by a spherical indenter. For this purpose, a combined approach of continuum damage mechanics (CDM) and fracture mechanics is performed. Results provided by an axisymmetric finite element model were compared with analytical solutions. A CDM based constitutive model with an anisotropic damage tensor was selected and implemented into a finite element code to study the damage of glass. The numerical results were analysed through the framework of the stress and damage distribution. Various regions with critical damage values were therefore predicted in good agreement with the experimental observations in the literature. In these regions, the directions of crack propagation, including both cracks initiating on the surface as well as in the bulk, were predicted using the strain energy density factor. Predicted directions were found in good agreement with those experimentally obtained in the literature results.