The creep damage equation

Following principles of continuum damage mechanics, Rabotnov and

Kachanov posited that creep damage can be represented by a scalar
quantity, , which varies from zero at the beginning of service life
to unity at failure (end of life). Both damage and strain are
assumed to increase as functions of stress, , temperature, T, and
the current state of damage, so that for uniaxial tension the creep
rate and damage rate are expressed as follows:

w&=

Bs m
n
(1- w)

(1.1)

e&=

As n
n
(1- w)

(1.2)

Let us turn our focus towards equation 1.1. Expressed in another way,
this equation can be written as:

dw
Bs m
=
dt (1- w)n
Re-arranging we get:
n

(1- w) dt = Bs mdt
Integrating this equation, cognizant that at t = 0, = 0; at t = t,
= , we get
t

w
n

m
(1- w) d w = Bs dt
0

Assuming that B, stress (), and n do not vary with time, we obtain
w

n+ 1
- 1
m t
(1- w) = Bs t 0
0
n + 1
n+ 1
- 1
(1- w) n + 1

1= Bs mt

n+ 1
1
m
1- (1- w) = Bs t

n + 1

n+ 1

1- (1- w)

= Bs mt(n + 1)

n+ 1

(1- w) = 1- Bs mt(n + 1)
1

1- w = 1- Bs mt(n + 1)n+ 1
1

w = 1- 1- Bs mt(n + 1)n+ 1

\
(1.3)

As already mentioned earlier, when t = tf, = 1. Thus from equation

1.3:
1

1= 1- 1- Bs mtf ( n + 1)n+ 1
1

- 1- Bs mtf ( n + 1)n+ 1 = 0
1

1- Bs mt ( n + 1)n+ 1 = 0
f

1- Bs mtf ( n + 1) = 0

\
Hence

tf =

Bs mtf ( n + 1) = 1

1
1
, which can also be written as Bs m ( n + 1) =
Bs ( n + 1)
tf
m

Substituting this result back to equation 1.3, we get

1

t n+ 1

w = 1- 1-

tf

(1.4)

We can use the result obtained in equation 1.4 to re-write equation

1.1

e&=

e&=

As n
n
(1- w)

As n

n+ 1

t
1-
t

e&=

As n
n

e&=

t
n+ 1
1-

tf

t
e&= As n 1-

tf

As n
n
(1- w)

n
n+ 1

We can now integrate this equation, noting that