A minimum strain energy release-based thermal–mechanical damage model for fracture process simulation of quasi-brittle materials under high temperatures

A physical thermal–mechanical damage model based on the minimum strain energy release principle is developed to describe quasi-brittle material failure process under high temperatures. A competitive crack growth simulation procedure based on finite element method coupled with the thermal–mechanical damage model is developed to simulate the thermal fracture process of quasi-brittle materials. Four numerical examples of concrete specimens under different high temperatures were implemented to support the effectiveness and ability of the developed numerical method including the physical thermal–mechanical damage model and competitive crack growth simulation procedure. The results show that the developed numerical method not only can simulate well the thermal fracture process of quasi-brittle materials under high temperatures, but also has excellent computation efficiency and convenience.