Dear All,

I am using ABAQUS Explicit/Dynamic to simulate crack propagation using cohesive elements. I have a rectangular bulk sample that is clamped on the bottom (in the y-direction) and applying displacement control in the vertical y-direction. A layer of cohesive elements bisects the sample in the middle. The bulk is made of elastic-plastic material and I have prescribed the necessary parameters for cohesive elements.

The stable time increment is 1e-10 seconds but I use mass scaling such that I scale to target time increment of 1e-6 seconds. I have attached a snapshot (Cohesive Fracture.PNG) of the instance where the cohesive elements have propagated to simulate fracture.

However, I noticed that the simulation runs but the time step is not moving forward. That is, at 16 second interval, the simulation runs but the time step does not move forward to 16.01 seconds. I have attached a snapshot of the Job window that illustrates this issue (Job_Not_Converging.PNG)

Do you know if this is a convergence issue even though I am using Explicit/ Dynamics?

I would greatly appreciate if I could request for any suggestion or if anyone has experienced a similar issue.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Masato