Inelastic material behavior concerning plastic and viscoplastic deformations as well as damage up to failure is modeled in context of continuum mechanics and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. Numerical analyses are performed with adequate tools, e.g. FEM and DEM. Nonlocal damage behavior is modeled employing gradient enhanced formulations in FEM.
Multicomponent materials as concrete, UHPFRC, soil, waste, asphalt or wood are modeled, anisotropies are taken into account to describe elastic, inelastic and transport behavior. In many fields of engineering it is important to predict the failure of components as exact as possible. Especially statements concerning the time of failure, the location and the ultimate loading are of great interest.
Model parameters are to be determined from experimental data. Numerical optimization strategies are employed, which identify iteratively the best set of parameters for a given model. Thereby the target function influences significantly the quality of the results. Hybrid strategies combine the excellent global search characteristics of stochastic evolution strategies with the high rate of convergence of deterministic gradient and simplex methods.