Abstract: Based on a damage evolution equation and a critical damage function model, this paper has completed the numerical simulation of ductile spall fracture. The free-surface velocity and damage distribution have been used to determine jointly the physical parameters D_l (the critical linking damage), D_f (the critical fracturing damage) and k (the softening rate of critical damage function model）of the critical damage function model, which are 0.11, 0.51 and 0.57 respectively. Results indicate that the parameters determined by any of shots could be applicable to the rest of other shots, which is convincing proof for the universal property of critical damage function. In our experiments, the shock pressure is about 1 GPa to 2.5 GPa. For the reason of limited pressure range, there are still some limitations in the methods of present analysis. Moreover, according to the damage evolution characteristic of pure aluminum obtained by experiments, two critical damages are obtained, which are 0.11 and 0.51 respectively. The results are coincident with the experimental ones, which indicate that the critical growth behaviour of damage occurs in the plastic metal under dynamic loading.

Key words: critical damage, numerical simulation, universal property