Two‐scale diffusion–deformation coupling model for material deterioration involving micro‐crack propagation

In this paper, we introduce a two‐scale diffusion–deformation coupled model that represents the aging material deterioration of two‐phase materials involving micro‐crack propagations. The mathematical homogenization method is applied to relate the micro‐ and macroscopic field variables, and a weak coupling solution method is employed to solve the two‐way coupling phenomena between the diffusion of scalar fields and the deformation of quasi‐brittle solids. The macroscopic mechanical behavior represented by the derived two‐scale two‐way coupled model reveals material nonlinearity due to micro‐scale cracking induced by the scalar‐field‐induced deformation, which can be simulated by the finite cover method. After verifying the fundamental validity of the proposed model and the analysis method, we perform a simple numerical example to demonstrate their ability to predict aging material deterioration. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.