34 Int. J. Materials and Product Technology, Vol. 48, Nos.

1/2/3/4, 2014

Fracture modelling of DP780 sheets using a hybrid

experimental-numerical method and two-dimensional
digital image correlation

Keunhwan Pack, Kwanghyun Ahn, Hoon Huh*

and Yanshan Lou
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Systems Engineering, KAIST,
291 Daehak-ro, Build. N7, Rm. 1203,
Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Korea
E-mail: ahrriaqkqh@kaist.ac.kr
E-mail: ankh1128@kaist.ac.kr
E-mail: hhuh@kaist.ac.kr
E-mail: yanshanlou@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the construction of fracture envelopes

of DP780 sheets using two methods: a hybrid experimental-numerical method;
two-dimensional digital image correlation (2D-DIC). For the hybrid method,
four types of ductile fracture tests were carried out covering a wide range of
stress states on specimens: with a central hole; two symmetric circular notches;
flat grooved; and diagonally double-notched. Based on the fracture strain and
loading paths identified with finite element simulation, a fracture envelope was
obtained by employing the three-parameter modified Mohr-Coulomb fracture
model. In addition, the fracture surface strain was directly measured using
2D-DIC. Loading histories of each test were extracted from a surface element
of a three dimensional finite element model. The comparison of fracture
envelopes constructed by the two methods reveals that there is little difference.
Thus, it can be concluded that 2D-DIC is applicable to fracture modelling of
DP780 sheets despite the assumption of the plane stress condition even after
necking.

Keywords: ductile fracture; hybrid experimental-numerical method; digital

image correlation; DIC; fracture locus; fracture forming limit diagram.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Pack, K., Ahn, K., Huh, H.
and Lou, Y. (2014) Fracture modelling of DP780 sheets using a hybrid
experimental-numerical method and two-dimensional digital image
correlation, Int. J. Materials and Product Technology, Vol. 48, Nos. 1/2/3/4,
pp.3446.

Biographical notes: Keunhwan Pack received his Bachelors and Masters

degrees in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Korea Advanced
Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea, studying the effect
of intermediate strain rates on the fracture loci of steel sheets. He and his
team proposed a new ductile fracture criterion inspired by the microscopic
mechanism to predict the fracture forming limit diagram. He is currently
continuing his graduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a
PhD degree.

Copyright 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 Fracture modelling of DP780 sheets 35

Kwanhyun Ahn received his Bachelors degree at Hanyang University, and

Masters degree at KAIST. He recently completed his PhD dissertation at
KAIST on the strain rate-dependent hardening model for pure titanium with
the consideration of the effect of deformation twinning. He has contributed
to devising the buffer stopper for Korean railroad safety as an excellent
experimentalist. He is now working at Samsung Heavy Industries.

Hoon Huh is a Full Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at

KAIST and the Director of the Computational Solid Mechanics and Design Lab
(CSMD) and the Center for High Speed Material Properties. He studied at
Seoul National University, South Korea for his Bachelors and Masters
degrees and received his PhD degree from the University of Michigan.
His major field is solid mechanics and numerical analysis with the emphasis on
the strain rate effect for the enhancement of crashworthiness and auto-body
design. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Automotive
Technology and a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Yanshan Lou graduated from Jiamusi University and Jilin University for his
Bachelors and Masters degrees, respectively. He joined CSMD in 2007 and
completed his PhD dissertation in 2012 with the development of a new ductile
fracture criterion and its application to various components made out of steel
sheets. His interest was extended to general plasticity models. He is currently
working at Swinburne University as a Postdoctoral Associate.

This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled Fracture

modeling of DP780 sheets using a hybrid experimental-numerical method and
two-dimensional digital image correlation presented at the 15th International
Conference on Advanced in Materials & Processing Technologies (AMPT
2012), Wollongong, Australia, 2326 September 2012.

1 Introduction

As the importance of an accurate prediction of ductile fracture increases in a variety of

fields including the automobile industry, with numerical simulation widely used to save
costs and time, many researchers spare no effort to develop an accurate fracture criterion
which can be easily calibrated by simple tests and implemented to FE codes (Bai and
Wierzbicki, 2010; Bao and Wierzbicki, 2004a, 2004b; Brozzo et al., 1972; Clift et al.,
1990; Cockcroft and Latham, 1968; LeRoy et al., 1981; Lou et al., 2012; Oh et al., 1979;
Wierzbicki et al., 2005). According to many previous studies, the ductility of metals is
greatly influenced by two stress-related parameters: the stress triaxiality, defined as mean
stress divided by von Mises equivalent stress; the Lode angle, expressed in terms of the
third invariant of stress deviator and Mises stress (Bai and Wierzbicki, 2008; Bao and
Wierzbicki, 2004b; Wierzbicki et al., 2005). Recently, the modified Mohr-Coulomb
(MMC) fracture model has been suggested by Bai and Wierzbicki (2010) to capture these
effects and verified by a series of experiments and corresponding finite element
simulation (Beese et al., 2010; Dunand and Mohr, 2010, 2011; Li et al., 2010; Luo and
Wierzibicki, 2009, 2010). This model was extended from the original Mohr-Coulomb
model aimed at geo-materials since it can reflect the effects of both normal and shear
stresses.
36 K. Pack et al.

Basically, four or five types of ductile fracture tests are performed covering a wide
range of stress states, and the strain value at the onset of failure (fracture strain) should be
defined as well as representative stress states in order to calibrate this model. There are
largely two methods to determine fracture strain: 2D-DIC, where the fracture strain is
calculated with measured in-plane strain components based on the definition of
equivalent plastic strain in the plane stress condition; a hybrid experimental-numerical
method, in which the fracture strain is defined as the maximum equivalent plastic strain
predicted in finite element simulation when the same amount of displacement as in an
actual test up until onset of failure is applied to the boundary of a finite element model
for each type of specimen. In this study, the applicability of 2D-DIC to fracture
modelling of DP780 sheets is investigated by comparing fracture envelopes constructed
by both methods. For sheet metal application, fracture loci, which satisfy the plane stress
condition, were taken out from each envelope, drawn in the space of the equivalent strain
to fracture and the stress triaxiality, and compared with each other. Furthermore, the
fracture loci were transformed into fracture forming limit diagrams (FFLD), which are a
more extensively used description of ductility in sheet metal forming community.

2 Experiment

2.1 Material
For the present study, DP780 steel sheets with 1.2 mm thickness and the minimum
ultimate tensile strength of 780 MPa were provided by POSCO. A dual-phase steel in the
class of advanced high strength steels has now come into wide use as an auto-body plate
to enhance the crashworthiness and fuel efficiency. Its microstructure features scattered
martensite islands in a soft ferrite matrix. The chemical composition of DP780 sheets
analysed with the Electron Probe Micro Analyzer is summarised in Table 1.
Table 1 Chemical composition of DP780 1.2 t in wt%

Element Mn Si C P S
wt% 2.23 1.01 0.069 0.014 0.002

2.2 Plasticity model

A series of uniaxial tensile tests were conducted using INSTRON 5583 with the intent of
modelling the plastic behaviour of DP780 sheets (Huh et al., 2012). The geometry of a
specimen is provided in Figure 1. To take into consideration the anisotropy of the sheets
arising from the rolling process, the Hill 1948 quadratic yield function in the form of
equation (1) was adopted and its coefficients were determined through uniaxial tensile
tests of dog-bone (DB) specimens extracted from three different orientations (0, 45, and
90 to the rolling direction).

F ( 22 33 ) + G ( 33 11 ) + H ( 11 22 )
2 2 2

Hill = (1)
+2 L 232 + 2M 312 + 2 N12 2
 Fracture modelling of DP780 sheets 37

The Lankford ratios measured with DIC were r0 = 0.83, r45 = 0.99 and r90 = 0.92. Since
out-of-plane shear tests are not feasible, L and M are assumed to be 1.5, which
corresponds to isotropic condition. The hardening curve was also obtained in the rolling
direction and fitted with Swift power law equation. Hills coefficients along with Swift
parameters are given in Table 2. For a reliable numerical simulation even after necking, it
should be an integral part to identify the stress-strain relation in the post necking region.
To this end, a so-called inverse method was used, following the procedures by Dunand
and Mohr (2010).

Table 2 Hills parameters and Swift law parameters

Hills parameters Swift law parameters

F G H L M N A 0 n

0.49 0.55 0.45 1.50 1.50 1.55 1,299 0.0030 0.1742

Figure 1 Geometry of DB specimen for uniaxial tensile test

2.3 Ductile fracture test

In order to calibrate the MMC fracture model, four types of basic ductile fracture tests
were performed on specimens; with a central hole (CH) of 8 mm in diameter;
two symmetric circular notches (TSCN) of 10 mm radii; flat grooved (FG); diagonally
double notched (DDN). These four specimens characterise the fracture property in
uniaxial tension, condition between plane strain and biaxial tension, plane strain tension,
and shear loading, respectively. Only rolling direction was considered, and each
specimen was tested using INSTRON 5583, with load-displacement curves recorded
in real time and deformation images captured all the way to fracture with a single
high speed camera, Phantom v9.0. For the purpose of measuring fracture strain with
2D-DIC, CH specimens were replaced by DB specimens because DIC technique is not
applicable to the point of fracture in CH specimens, which lie in the intersection of a
hole and the transverse axis of symmetry. Figure 2 shows photographs of specimens
before and after tests.
38 K. Pack et al.

Figure 2 Photograph of fractured specimen, (a) with a central hole (b) TSCN (c) FG (d) DDN
(e) DB (see online version for colours)

(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e)

3 Fracture strain and loading paths

3.1 Hybrid experimental-numerical method

First, we employed a hybrid experimental-numerical technique, the way to determine the
fracture strain at a material point inside of a specimen where the fracture is actually
initiated with finite element simulation. Each specimen was modelled with eight-node
three-dimensional brick elements with reduced integration, exploiting the geometrical
symmetry to save computational time. Half thickness consists of eight layers of finite
elements so that necking is verisimilarly described. To minimise spatial discretisation
error (mesh size sensitivity), the side of elements around the point of onset of failure was
set to be 0.1 mm, which turns out to calculate the converged strain value (Dunand and
Mohr, 2010). As for FG specimens, the geometrical defect of 0.2% was introduced to
surface nodes located on the transverse axis of symmetry to artificially trigger necking.
None of other types of specimens need the artificial defect thanks to their geometric
feature with no parallel gauge section. Abaqus v6.8 was used for simulation, and the
 Fracture modelling of DP780 sheets 39

obtained load-displacement curve was represented along with those from three
experiments in Figure 3, which shows that the predicted load-displacement curve agrees
well with experimental ones. The reliability of simulation was more strictly verified by
comparing the evolution of the largest component of axial logarithmic strain on the
surface of a specimen measured by DIC with the one obtained from simulation as
demonstrated in Figure 4. When it comes to a DDN specimen, equivalent plastic strain
was compared instead of axial logarithmic strain because a finite rotation of the gauge
section in this type of specimen with deformation makes an axial component of strain
meaningless, and the absence of recognisable necking in shear loading adds the
dominance of planes stress condition. A blue curve without symbol in Figure 3 denotes
the evolution of the equivalent plastic strain at the fracture initiation point. The change in
the slope of the curve indicates the development of diffuse or localised necking, which
accelerates deformation. Each specimen features a different necking phenomenon, and
this is mainly due to the different stress states inside of it. The fracture strain was defined
as the maximum equivalent plastic strain at the average of three displacements to fracture
measured from experiments. In addition, to identify loading paths at the fracture initiation
point, the histories of the stress triaxiality and the normalised Lode angle defined as
equation (2) were investigated.
m 6 2 J
= , = 1 = 1 cos 1 33 (2)
2

Figure 3 Load-displacement curve from experiment and finite element simulation, and the
evolution of equivalent plastic strain, (a) with a central hole (b) TSCN (c) FG (d) DDN
(see online version for colours)

(a) (b)

(c) (d)
40 K. Pack et al.

Figure 4 Evolution of axial logarithmic strain and equivalent plastic train on the surface of each
type specimen, (a) with a central hole (b) TSCN (c) FG (d) DDN (see online version
for colours)

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Even though all the specimens were designed such that stress states are kept as constant
as possible, these two parameters vary with deformation, especially after necking. Thus,
weighted averages during the entire process in the form of equation (3) were used as
representative stress states for the calibration of the MMC model.
f f

( p ) d p ( p ) d p
avg = 0
, avg = 0
(3)
f f

Calculated fracture strains and stress parameters are tabulated in Table 3.

Table 3 Fracture strain and average stress states

Hybrid experimental-numerical Two-dimensional digital image

Specimen type method correlation
CH TSCN FG DDN DB TSCN FG DDN
Fracture strain, f 1.02 0.710 0.505 0.983 0.825 0.553 0.407 0.995

Stress triaxiality, 0.320 0.624 0.628 0.0281 0.388 0.533 0.569 0.0287
Lode angle, 0.905 0.217 0.0696 0.0820 0.824 0.275 0.0787 0.101
 Fracture modelling of DP780 sheets 41

3.2 Two-dimensional digital image correlation

Secondly, we used the optical method, 2D-DIC to directly measure in-plane strain
components from speckle patterns coating the surface of a specimen. The commercial
DIC tool, ARAMIS v6.3.0, was used to calculate the displacement field by assuming an
affine transformation of the 25 25 pixels in the vicinity of points spaced five pixels
apart. Since DIC is not available at the boundary of a specimen due to the absence of
speckle patterns in the neighbourhood of the point of interest, CH specimens were
substituted by DB specimens. Strictly speaking, a specimen undergoes tri-axial stress
state after the localised necking develops, and thus three-dimensional digital image
correlation (3D-DIC) requiring two high speed cameras should be applied for the better
accuracy of measured strain. However, compared with conventional steels, DP780 in the
class of advanced high strength steels shows a smaller amount of necking, and the
assumption of the plane stress condition is quite suitable for sheet metals. Furthermore,
the procedure of tests and analysis using 2D-DIC is much simpler than 3D-DIC. Figure 5
shows the distribution of strain on the surface of specimen analysed by ARAMIS.
Deformation is concentrated in certain areas where necking prevails, and strain is on a
steep gradient, which is a well-known phenomenon before fracture.

Figure 5 Distribution of strain right before fracture, (a) DB (b) TSCN (c) FG (d) DDN
(see online version for colours)

(a) (b)

(c) (d)
42 K. Pack et al.

The fracture surface strain was calculated by substituting measured in-plane strain
components at the point of onset of failure until the first visible crack is detected into the
work-conjugate equivalent plastic strain of the Hill 1948 yield function in the plane stress
condition, which is derived as equation (4).

1
d p = {( F + H )d112 + ( H + G )d222 + 2 Hd11d22 } + 2 d122 (4)
FH + HG + GF N
To avoid the inaccuracy or uncertainty of measured values that DIC might intrinsically
cause, only three significant figures were taken with round-off.
Loading paths of the fracture initiation point were extracted from a surface element of
finite element models used for the hybrid method because the strain was measured on the
surface of a specimen. In the same way as the hybrid method, the average stress
triaxiality and normalised Lode angle were calculated based on equation (3) and are
written down in Table 3 along with the measured fracture surface strain. It is noted that
fracture strains measured with 2D-DIC are smaller than the ones determined through the
hybrid method except a diagonally double-notched specimen since they were measured
on the surface of a specimen, not on the mid-plane where the actual fracture initiation
point lies. However, they can still be a meaningful calibration points. Because their stress
states satisfy the plane stress condition, which prevails in sheet metals, they can play an
important role in predicting the onset of failure with shell finite elements.
Figure 6 represents the tendency of increase in the equivalent plastic strain at the
fracture initiation point for different types of specimens. For easier comparison, the
displacement and the equivalent plastic strain were normalised by their maximum values,
which are the displacement to fracture and the equivalent strain to fracture. For a TSCN
specimen, the equivalent plastic strain evolves through two consecutive increases in the
slope, which correspond to diffuse and localised necking, respectively. A FG specimen
undergoes only one sudden rise in the strain rate caused by localised necking since
adjacent materials prevent the centre point from being deformed in the transverse
direction. A DDN specimen does not show any conspicuous change in the slope, and thus
it can be confirmed that shear-dominated deformation is not accompanied by necking.
These tendencies agree well with the result of finite element simulation exhibited in
Figure 3.

Figure 6 Evolution of the normalised equivalent plastic strain at the fracture initiation point for
three kinds of specimen (see online version for colours)
 Fracture modelling of DP780 sheets 43

4 Fracture envelope

4.1 Fracture envelope

In this study, the three-parameter MMC fracture model was chosen to quantitatively
evaluate the ductility of DP780 sheets. The MMC model takes the form of equation (5)
and describes the dependency of the onset of failure in ductile materials on stress states.

A 3
f = c3 + (1 c3 ) sec 1
c2 2 3 6
1 (5)
1 + c12 1
n

cos + c1 + sin
3 6 3 6

This model was extended from the original Mohr-Coulomb criterion, which was
developed for geo-materials, due to its advantage of capturing the effects of both the
stress triaxiality and the Lode angle on ductility. The equivalent plastic strain to fracture
exponentially decays with the increasing stress triaxiality and shows asymmetric
dependency on the normalised Lode angle. A and n are Swift law parameters, and c1, c2,
and c3 should be determined based on the result of ductile fracture tests. A simple
MATLAB code was developed such that the least square difference between equation (5)
and test points in Table 3 is minimised. Figure 7 shows the finally constructed fracture
envelopes in the space of the stress triaxiality, the normalised Lode angle, and the
equivalent plastic strain to fracture. Each point on the fracture envelope indicates the
maximum strain a material can resist in the proportional loading condition, where the
stress parameters, and , are kept constant. Two lines on each envelope correspond to
the plane stress condition, for which the stress triaxiality has a unique relation with the
normalised Lode angle written as equation (6).

27 2 1
= sin (6)
2 3 2

Figure 7 Fracture envelopes constructed with the MMC fracture creation, (a) using the hybrid
method (b) using 2D-DIC (see online version for colours)

(a) (b)
44 K. Pack et al.

As opposed to Figure 7(a), all the calibration points in Figure 7(b) are placed on these
lines, which substantiates that average loading paths of them satisfy the plane stress
condition.

4.2 Fracture locus

For direct comparison between two fracture envelopes, the two-dimensional fracture
locus satisfying equation (6) was extracted from each envelope and represented in the
space of the stress triaxiality and the equivalent plastic strain to fracture as illustrated in
Figure 8(a). It is noteworthy that there is little difference between two fracture loci, which
verifies the applicability of 2D-DIC to define the onset of failure for DP780. A fracture
locus is not popular with the sheet metal forming community, so it was transformed into a
FFLD, a better-known representation of strain limit in the space of major and minor
strain. The term, Fracture is added in front of the general FLD because this limit of
ductility was defined based on the onset of failure, not on necking. Fig. 8b shows
transformed FFLDs. Five dotted lines in Fig 8a and Fig. 8b refer to representative loading
paths: uniaxial compression, pure-shear, uniaxial tension, plane strain tension, equibiaxial
tension. There are two additional branches from uniaxial compression to uniaxial tension,
which does not appear in a conventional forming limit diagram. Great emphasis is put on
these branches because some researchers report that fracture of advanced high strength
steels sometimes occurs in these regions (Li et al., 2010). Again, two methods predict
similar FFLDs with a trivial discrepancy in the state of plane strain tension, and thus it is
concluded that 2D-DIC can be adopted for the purpose of modelling the fracture of
DP780 sheets.

Figure 8 (a) Fracture locus in the plane stress condition (b) Fracture forming limit diagram
(see online version for colours)

(a) (b)

5 Conclusions

In this study, four kinds of basic ductile fracture tests were carried out in the uniaxial
loading frame to characterise the fracture behaviour of DP780 sheets. Two up-to-date
 Fracture modelling of DP780 sheets 45

techniques, the hybrid method and 2D-DIC, were used to define the fracture strain and
identify loading histories all the way to fracture. Based on the established data, two
fracture envelopes of DP780 were constructed with the three-parameter MMC model. For
direct comparison, two-dimensional fracture loci were taken out from each envelope and
transformed into FFLDs as an alternative representation, which show that they are almost
identical. Thus, 2D-DIC without complicated procedures is shown to be applicable to
fracture modelling of DP780 sheets. It is also expected that 2D-DIC can be used to
investigate the dynamic effect on fracture thanks to its simplicity but reasonable
accuracy.

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