<p>The study presents a localizing gradient continuum damage model for analyzing macro-damage evolution in quasi-brittle structures. In quasi-brittle materials, the interaction between microscopic damage and macro-strains causes a typical strain-softening response beyond damage initiation, often modelled using the exponential damage evolution law. The choice of parameters in exponential damage evolution law is crucial in numerical damage evolution analysis. In the present work, a detailed analysis of variation in damage law parameters is done to propose the relative effects of these parameters on damage evolution. The localizing gradient damage model is implemented using the user element substitution (UEL) in the Abaqus nonlinear finite element framework. It was particularly observed that the presented method yields accurate and consistent solutions when compared with the experimental results. Also, the relative effects of various specimen sizes, crack lengths, and damage law parameters on damage response in quasi-brittle structures are discussed.</p>