Conference Agenda

The phase field approach is a mathematical technique used to simulate evolving discontinuities in continua. It is based on an additional partial differential equation which is coupled with the standard field equations of the fluid/solid continuum, greatly enhancing the tracking of the field transitions from the computational point of view. The proposal of such an approach by Francfort and Marigo to simulate evolving displacement discontinuities in solids, which is a key problem of fracture mechanics, and the recovery of the Griffith theory in the limit of Gamma-convergence, has opened the way for a significant development of the method to make it a quantitative tool suitable for engineering technical applications. The aim of this mini-symposium is to bring together experts of theoretical, computational and experimental fracture mechanics to discuss limitations, challenges and perspectives of the phase field approach to fracture in relation to key open issues listed below. - Fundamentals of the phase field method: from brittle to cohesive fracture. - Comparison with benchmark tests in the lab for the technical assessment of the phase field approach to fracture for quasi-brittle materials. - From the laboratory scale to the structural scale: how to exploit the phase field approach to fracture in relation to concrete materials and concrete structures. - Competition between interface delamination and bulk fracture for civil applications (FRP strengthening, etc.). - The phase field approach to fracture applied to masonry materials and masonry structures. - Prediction of size-scale effects according to the phase field approach to fracture: limitations and challenges. - The phase field approach to fracture for coupled problems: thermo-elasticity, corrosion and other chemico-mechanical problems. - Fatigue and cyclic degradation phenomena simulated using the phase field approach to fracture. - Computational methods and high performance computing strategies for large scale computations based on the phase field approach to fracture.