Published Paper

Inserted: 18 jun 2018
Last Updated: 13 jul 2023

Journal: SIAM J. Math. Anal.
Volume: 51
Number: 3
Pages: 1696--1729
Year: 2019

Abstract:

We prove a homogenization result for Mumford-Shah-type energies associated to a brittle composite material with weak inclusions distributed periodically at a scale $\varepsilon>0$. The matrix and the inclusions in the material have the same elastic moduli but very different toughness moduli, with the ratio of the toughness modulus in the matrix and in the inclusions being $1/\beta_\varepsilon$, with $\beta_{\varepsilon}>0$ small. We show that the high-contrast behavior of the composite leads to the emergence of interesting effects in the limit: The volume and surface energy densities interact by $\Gamma$-convergence, and the limit volume energy is not a quadratic form in the critical scaling $\beta_\varepsilon = \varepsilon$, unlike the $\varepsilon$-energies, and unlike the extremal limit cases.

Keywords: Homogenization, Brittle fracture, $\Gamma$-convergence, Free-discontinuity problems, high-contrast materials

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