Repository for From Brittle Fracture to Elastoplastic Fatigue: An Open-Source Phase Field Framework in Julia

PhaseFieldFracture is the companion repository for the paper P. Zhang, D. Zhao, K. Tang, From brittle fracture to elastoplastic fatigue: An open-source phase field framework in Julia, Advances in Engineering Software 220, 104222 (2026), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advengsoft.2026.104222. It contains the Julia/Gridap implementation, benchmark scripts, and GUI used to reproduce and explore the results reported in the paper.

Three key features

1. Unified multi-regime framework

One codebase covers elastic fracture, elastic fatigue, ductile fracture, and elastoplastic fatigue with a shared solver structure.

2. Transparent single-language implementation

The governing equations are mapped directly into Julia through Gridap's weak-form API, keeping theory and implementation closely aligned.

3. Reproducible validated benchmarks with GUI access

Eight validated benchmarks, from brittle fracture to GH4169 elastoplastic fatigue, are provided with reproducible scripts and GUI-based inspection.

Benchmarks in this repository

• Elastic Fracture: SENT Tension, SENS Shear
• Elastic Fatigue: TPB Fatigue, Offset Double-Notch Fatigue
• Plastic Fracture: Flat Grooved Scan, Double-Notched Monotonic
• Plastic Fatigue: SENT Elasto-Plastic Fatigue, CT Elasto-Plastic Fatigue

Workflow

• Fixed workflow: Mesh -> Compute -> Post-process
• Parameter groups: Geometry / Mesh / Material / Phase Field / Loading / Smoke
• Post-processing views: Mesh, Damage, Displacement, Von Mises, Curve, Summary Table, Comparison Curve, Results Summary
• Run artifacts are collected under gui/gui_results/runs/<case_id>/<run_id>/

Linux is the recommended platform for routine use.

Repository layout

• gui/gui_main.py: main desktop entry point
• gui/case_registry.py: benchmark registration and parameter grouping
• gui/gui_solver.jl: Julia backend for the built-in protocol cases
• gui/run_manifest.py: run metadata and result bookkeeping
• BenchmarkCases_Organized/: Julia benchmark scripts for fatigue and plastic cases
• visual/: export panels and plotting helpers
• environment.yml: Python runtime environment
• Project.toml: Julia project environment

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/FCMzp05/PhaseFieldFracture
cd /path/to/PhaseFieldFracture
export REPO_ROOT="$(pwd)"
eval "$("$HOME/miniforge3/bin/conda" shell.bash hook)"
conda env create -f environment.yml || conda env update -f environment.yml --prune
conda activate gui_envs

export JULIA_DEPOT_PATH="$CONDA_PREFIX/share/julia"
export JULIA_PROJECT="$REPO_ROOT"
julia --project="$REPO_ROOT" -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.instantiate(); Pkg.precompile()'
python gui/gui_main.py

Launch the GUI

Input: benchmark selection and parameter edits in the GUI
Output: mesh files, curves, snapshots, VTU, manifests, and summary figures under gui/gui_results/runs/<case_id>/<run_id>/
Run on Linux:

cd /path/to/PhaseFieldFracture
export REPO_ROOT="$(pwd)"
eval "$("$HOME/miniforge3/bin/conda" shell.bash hook)"
conda activate gui_envs
export JULIA_DEPOT_PATH="$CONDA_PREFIX/share/julia"
export JULIA_PROJECT="$REPO_ROOT"
python gui/gui_main.py

Run the Julia backend directly

Input: a JSON parameter file such as gui/params_default.json
Output: raw result files under gui/gui_results/ for the selected case
Run on Linux:

cd /path/to/PhaseFieldFracture
export REPO_ROOT="$(pwd)"
eval "$("$HOME/miniforge3/bin/conda" shell.bash hook)"
conda activate gui_envs
export JULIA_DEPOT_PATH="$CONDA_PREFIX/share/julia"
export JULIA_PROJECT="$REPO_ROOT"
julia gui/gui_solver.jl gui/params_default.json

Citation

If you use this repository, please cite:

@article{zhang2026phasefield,
  title   = {From brittle fracture to elastoplastic fatigue: An open-source phase field framework in {Julia}},
  author  = {Zhang, Peng and Zhao, Dazhi and Tang, Keke},
  journal = {Advances in Engineering Software},
  volume  = {220},
  pages   = {104222},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.1016/j.advengsoft.2026.104222}
}