Phase field modeling of brittle fracture in materials with anisotropic fracture resistance

Abstract Materials which reveal a directionality in terms of the fracture resistance motivate the integration of anisotropic behavior within approaches for crack growth simulations. Within a variational phase field model for fracture, this kind of anisotropy is included by the enhancement of the non‐local part of the crack energy functional. Results of a numerical crack path simulation are presented and discussed to illustrate the properties of the applied model.