Application of a New Regularization Technique to Localized Failure

The simulation of localized failure, e.g. in the form of shear bands, yields the typical mesh‐dependent post critical results within standard finite element formulations. We here propose a new regularization technique based on a micromechanically motivated approach which overcomes this problem. The key idea here is the introduction of a micro‐structure at a typical Gauss‐point of the finite element mesh which befits in the form of an assumed fluctuation field when macroscopic localization occurs. A regularization effect is obtained when the size of the micro‐structure is scaled to the volume associated with a Gauss‐point of the finite element mesh.