MechE Colloquium: Toward a unified variational model of material failure
Event details
| Date | 19.05.2026 |
| Hour | 12:00 › 13:00 |
| Speaker | Prof. Corrado Maurini, ∂'Alembert Institute, Sorbonne University Paris |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Abstract: The need to understand and predict material and structural failure has led to the development of several theoretical frameworks, including plasticity, limit analysis, damage mechanics, and cohesive fracture models.
I first review how these rate-independent theories can be formulated as energy minimisation problems and discuss their main properties and limitations. I then introduce a regularised fracture model, akin to the phase-field regularisation used for softening plasticity, that we recently proposed in [1]. Unlike standard gradient damage or phase-field fracture models, in this approach damage affects the material strength rather than its stiffness.
Through analytical and numerical examples, I show how this model, within a consistent variational framework, provides a path toward reconciling several key concepts developed over the centuries, including Griffith and cohesive crack models, damage mechanics, plasticity, strength criteria, and limit analysis.
[1] B. Bourdin, J.-J. Marigo, C. Maurini, C. Zolesi, A variational approach to fracture incorporating any convex strength criterion, arXiv:2506.22558. arXiv PDF
Biography: Corrado Maurini is Professor of Solid Mechanics at the d'Alembert Institute, Sorbonne Université, Paris. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanics in 2005 through a joint programme between the University of Rome La Sapienza and Paris 6. His research focuses on the theoretical and computational mechanics of nonlinear solids, with interests spanning fracture and damage, phase-field models, structural stability, rods, plates and shells, and active materials.
I first review how these rate-independent theories can be formulated as energy minimisation problems and discuss their main properties and limitations. I then introduce a regularised fracture model, akin to the phase-field regularisation used for softening plasticity, that we recently proposed in [1]. Unlike standard gradient damage or phase-field fracture models, in this approach damage affects the material strength rather than its stiffness.
Through analytical and numerical examples, I show how this model, within a consistent variational framework, provides a path toward reconciling several key concepts developed over the centuries, including Griffith and cohesive crack models, damage mechanics, plasticity, strength criteria, and limit analysis.
[1] B. Bourdin, J.-J. Marigo, C. Maurini, C. Zolesi, A variational approach to fracture incorporating any convex strength criterion, arXiv:2506.22558. arXiv PDF
Biography: Corrado Maurini is Professor of Solid Mechanics at the d'Alembert Institute, Sorbonne Université, Paris. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanics in 2005 through a joint programme between the University of Rome La Sapienza and Paris 6. His research focuses on the theoretical and computational mechanics of nonlinear solids, with interests spanning fracture and damage, phase-field models, structural stability, rods, plates and shells, and active materials.
Practical information
- General public
- Free