Simulation of hydrogen embrittlement of steel using mixed nonlocal finite elements

A new simulation strategy to model hydrogen embrittlement based on a multi-field finite element using displacements, pressure, volume variation, nonlocal damage variables and lattice hydrogen concentration as unknowns is proposed. The material is described using a modified GTN model, which includes the description of hydrogen enhanced decohesion (HEDE). The finite element problem is solved using a fully implicit formulation. Numerical problems related to volumetric locking are solved using a mixed pressure/volume variation formulation. The use of the mixed formulation allows a straightforward evaluation of the pressure gradient, which drives hydrogen diffusion. Mesh size dependence is solved using an implicit gradient nonlocal formulation. Two variables are used to represent damage: the plastic volume variation and the accumulated plastic strain, controlling nucleation. The model is used to simulate an existing experimental database (Moro et al., 2010; Briottet et al., 2012) including tensile, fracture toughness and pressurized disk tests. The model, after adjusting the various coefficients, can represent the main experimental findings: the effect of deformation rate on the failure of tensile specimens, the transition from surface to internal fracture with increasing deformation rate, the sharp toughness drop under hydrogen (CT specimen), the fracture location and the effect of the pressurization rate in the case of the tests on disks.