Characterization and modeling of the anisotropic damage of a high-explosive composition

Modelling the behaviour of quasi-brittle materials requires dealing with the anisotropic damage evolution induced by the loading direction and the unilateral effect corresponding to the sudden opening/closure of defects. The latter was the cause deficiencies of some constitutive laws as a no continuous stress/strain response or spurious energy dissipation. In this paper, the behaviour of pressed high explosive is experimentally investigated. Evidences of a pre-existing damage, an anisotropic one developing during loading and the unilateral effect are detailed. The framework of the microplane constitutive laws previously proposed in the literature and based on the volumetric–deviatoric–tangential strain projections is used. Damage is introduced in the model and is affected by an “effectiveness” function weighting its influence with the loading direction. The calibration procedure is detailed and a discussion enables highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the modelling approach.