| The phase-field method (PFM) describes the material fracture process through a series of differential equations, which avoid tedious crack surface tracing and has advantages in simulating crack initiation, propagation, and bifurcation. This paper introduced a fracture model for brittle materials based on the PFM, gave the derivation process of the governing equations of the PFM for the brittle material fracture problem, and proposed a method to implement the phase-field fracture model for brittle materials in COMSOL based on the staggered algorithm. The cracking process of the brittle material one element model and the single-edge notched plate subjected to tensile and shear are reproduced, and the simulated crack propagation path is consistent with the results of existing literature, which verifies the rationality of the program. For many parameters involved in the phase-field fracture model of brittle materials, a global sensitivity analysis based on the Morris method is carried out to identify the main factors of the phase-field fracture model pertinent to the load-displacement relationship. The results show that the Young's modulus (E), critical energy release rate (Gc) and displacement increment (?ux) are the main parameters that affect the output results of the load-displacement relationship. The phase-field fracture model implemented in COMSOL can effectively simulate the crack initiation and propagation in brittle materials, and the model parameters E, Gc and ?ux have an important impact on the improvement of the fracture performance of the material and the efficiency of the inversion of the model parameters. |
