Phase-field fracture irreversibility using the slack variable approach

Abstract: In this manuscript, the phase-field fracture irreversibility constraint is transformed into an equality-based constraint using the slack variable approach. The equality-based fracture irreversibility constraint is then introduced in the phase-field fracture energy functional using the Lagrange Multiplier Method and the Penalty method. Both methods are variationally consistent with the conventional variational inequality phase-field fracture problem, unlike the history-variable approach. Thereafter, numerical experiments are carried out on benchmark problems in brittle and quasi-brittle fracture to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.