Analysis of energy balance when using Cohesive Zone Models to simulate fracture processes

Cohesive Zone Models (CZMs) are being increasingly used to simulate fracture and fragmentation processes in metallic, polymeric, and ceramic materials and their composites. Instead of an infinitely sharp crack envisaged in fracture mechanics, CZM presupposes the presence of a fracture process zone where the energy is transferred from external work both in the forward and the wake regions of the propagating crack. In this paper, we examine how the external work flows as recoverable elastic strain energy, inelastic strain energy, and cohesive energy, the latter encompassing the work of fracture and other energy consuming mechanisms within the fracture process zone. It is clearly shown that the plastic energy in the material surrounding the crack is not accounted in the cohesive energy. Thus cohesive zone energy encompasses all the inelastic energy e.g., energy required for grainbridging, cavitation, internal sliding, surface energy but excludes any form of inelastic strain energy in the bounding material.