Particle dynamics simulations of expansion of a cylindrical cavity within an infinite brittle medium

The present review focuses on the plane strain problem of high strain rate expansion of a cylindrical cavity within an infinite brittle material with random microstructure. The material is represented by an ensemble of "continuum particles" forming a two-dimensional geometrically and structurally disordered lattice. The proposed model includes the aleatory variability and epistemic uncertainty of the process. The dynamic particle simulations are performed at seven different cavity expansion rates. The resulting damage evolution process is non-stationary, non-local, and non-equilibrium. This problem, therefore, belongs to the class of phenomena for which the traditional continuum models are not well suited, and detailed experimental data are either difficult to get or not available at all. The present study explores the potential role of the particle dynamics in addressing these problems.