Micromechanics based framework with second-order damage tensors

Abstract: The harmonic product of tensors---leading to the concept of harmonic factorization---has been defined in a previous work (Olive et al, 2017). In the practical case of 3D crack density measurements on thin or thick walled structures, this mathematical tool allows us to factorize the harmonic (irreducible) part of the fourth-order damage tensor as an harmonic square: an exact harmonic square in 2D, an harmonic square over the set of so-called mechanically accessible directions for measurements in the 3D case. The corresponding micro-mechanics framework based on second---instead of fourth---order damage tensors is derived. An illustrating example is provided showing how the proposed framework allows for the modeling of the so-called hydrostatic sensitivity up to high damage levels.