Discontinuous modelling of shear bands using adaptive meshfree methods

A simple methodology to model shear bands as strong displacement discontinuities in an adaptive meshfree method is presented. The shear band is represented by a displacement jump at discrete particle positions. The displacement jump in normal direction is suppressed with penalty method. Loss of material stability is used as transition criterion from continuum to discontinuum. The method is two- and three-dimensional. Examples of complicated shear banding including transition from brittle-to-ductile failure are studied and compared to experimental data and other examples from the literature.