Configurational forces in a micro‐cracked body

A framework to model micro-cracked bodies based on the theory of continua with microstructure is presented: assuming a crack embedded in each material element, a field is considered characterising size and orientation of the crack, in addition to the usual placement in the Euclidian space. To deal with crack evolutions, we call upon configurational forces which, in the present case, occur at the level of the microstructure. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)